Libraries grapple with filter law

By CAITLIN SULLIVAN/Staff

Try logging onto Damascus’ town Web site or a Creeper Trail bike rental Web site at a public library. You might not be able to. The reason – spam and pornography.

Those are just some of the glitches Washington County library staff has been grappling with this past month as they implement a new Internet filtering system on all library computers.

“We’re still working out the mechanics on how this will be handled,” said Will Stein, reference librarian at the Abingdon branch.

He’s referring to a new state law implemented July 1 that requires computers at public libraries to have an Internet filtering device. If they don’t, the library won’t get state money. About half of states in the nation have similar laws.

The idea is to protect users from child pornography, obscenity and “materials deemed harmful to juveniles.” The law also contains a provision that allows a librarian to turn off the filter if a patron doing “bona fide research” requests it.

It’s been a big change for Washington County libraries.

“Public libraries have been providing Internet access since there was the Internet,” Washington County Public Library Director Charlotte Parsons said. “And we chose not to filter.”

For one, she said the filters aren’t effective. Kids can get around them and they can block users from legitimate Web sites. Besides, she said they are not in the spirit of free and open information.

Previously at Washington County libraries, patrons under 18 had to have a guardian sign a form that includes the statement, “As with other materials restriction of a child’s access to the Internet is the responsibility of the parent or legal guardian. Parents are encouraged to discuss the use of the Internet with their children and to monitor their children’s use.” Parsons said she’s still requiring guardians of minors to sign the form.

“I don’t want people to be exposed to inappropriate material, I just question our ability to do it effectively [using filters],” Parsons said. “To not do it effectively you’re creating a false sense of security.”

That’s nonsense, according to Victoria Cobb, president of The Family Foundation of Virginia, the lead organization behind the new state law.

Cobb said a parent is not going to drive recklessly just because her child is now wearing a seatbelt. It will continue to be the parents’ responsibility to protect his children, she said.

She said this new law holds libraries to their own standards as safe havens of learning.

“Parents do their job while in the home,” Cobb said. “The least the state can do is make sure those protections are then on taxpayer-funded computers.”

Although a federal law requires public libraries to have Internet filters to receive some federal dollars, public libraries only collect about 1 percent of the federal funding, so the law does not have to affect them.

This new state law is a whole different story.

Parsons said that the Washington County Public Library receives about $250,000 from the state each year. That’s about 90 percent of the library’s total budget for books and other library materials. As of July 1, her hands were tied and although she disagrees with the ability of any filter to be completely effectively she is forced to abide by the new law.

Judith Krug, director of administrative, budget and policy matters with the Office for Intellectual Freedom at the American Library Association, said the law is taking away local control and giving it to the state.

“The demand that libraries filter seems to me to be a mandate taken out of the hands of the local community,” Krug said. “Each local library, we believe, has control over what that library does and the state has removed that control.”

Public libraries are governed by the local Library Board and request state and local funding each year.

Parsons said she thinks filters create more obstacles for information to go through before it reaches the public.

“Who am I, as a library director, to tell people in the community what they can and cannot look at on the Internet? It’s not my position to impose values on other people,” Parsons said. “It is my responsibility to provide people with access to the information that meets their needs, in a comfortable library environment where they are not offended by others’ actions and prevent people from engaging in illegal activity while using library resources.”

In addition, Krug said it’s now up to individual librarians to determine what constitutes “bona fide research.”

“If you’re writing a story I don’t like, I may not disable the filter for you,” Krug said. “All these people now have the right to determine what you are permitted to see on the Internet as an adult.”

Krug said the aspect of the law that requires patrons to ask or explain why they need the filter disabled may discourage less able patrons, the elderly, young and people who don’t speak English well from even asking.

“Fifteen to 20 million people in this country can only use the Internet at the library because of their economic status,” Krug said. She said if these people can’t explain to the librarian why they need the filter turned off, this law could potentially disenfranchise them.

Parsons said if an adult asks for the filter to be turned off she’d do it. She said a handful of people complained about the filter this past month.

Library employee Stein said he’s had to approach someone in the library for doing something inappropriate a couple of times in the past four years.

Cobb said forcing librarians to tap someone on the shoulder for doing something inappropriate puts the librarian in an uncomfortable position and this new law alleviates that.

“It’s a great step for counties to protect our kids,” she said.

“There’s no intent to block people on controversial issues,” Cobb said. “Librarians currently get to choose what goes on the library shelves.”

Krug said kids these days are more Internet savvy than adults.

“I don’t know any kid above the age of 10 who can’t get around a filter,” she said. “They grew up with [computers].”

“If you want to protect your kid from drowning you can put up a high fence, put padlocks on the gates, have a guard by the pool but the best way is to teach them how to swim,” Krug said. “We can put up all types of obstacles but the best way is to educate them about the Internet, about self-responsibility which includes what is appropriate information, how to get out of a site and who you go to for assistance.”

To contact Caitlin Sullivan e-mail or call (276) 628-7101.

SIDEBAR:
Libraries, Internet filters and the First Amendment
WHAT: A 1998 U.S. District Court ruling in Loudon County, Va., declared Internet filtering on all public library computers a violation of the First Amendment
WHY: Filtering for a minor in turn restricts an adult’s rights
WHAT: In 2000, U.S. Congress passed the Federal Children’s Internet Protection Act declaring schools and libraries filter the Internet to be eligible for some federal funding. The Act was challenged in 2003 but the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law.
WHY: It was not a violation of the First Amendment because it allows librarians to disable the filter upon a patron’s request.