The Library Bill of Rights
As a non-librarian, I have just discovered the Library Bill of Rights and the controversy over its statement about age discrimination:
The fear apparently is that this language prevents libraries from protecting kids from pornography because that would mean abridging their use of library resources. I have two comments on this issue. First, clearly the LBL doesn’t prevent anti-pornography measures because libraries all across the country are installing anti-pornography software. Second, I would argue that libraries aren’t abridging anyone’s rights because of age, but because of American law. Libraries aren’t making decisions about content availability in order to discriminate against young people. Age isn’t the consideration at that level (the level of library administrators); the law is.
All of that said, I also have to say that I don’t begrudge the Wiki author(s) debating this controversy. The great democracy that is the Internet means that anything can and will be debated. If a debate has merit, it will get its deserved attention. If not, it will fade away or be replaced by another topic of conversation.
July 23, 2006 at 12:00 pm
Actually its a little more complicated than that. It was the Library Bill of Rights that drove the thinking behind ALA’s fight against the Child’s Internet Proctection Act. ALA fought against filtering of any kind, including children’s computers, at a substantial cost to the organization. The LBR doesn’t exist in a bubble and has serious affects on ALA actions.