Re: Can of Worms

Amy Terlaga (aterlaga@www.biblio.org)
Wed, 8 Oct 1997 16:06:25 -0400

Date: Wed, 8 Oct 1997 16:06:25 -0400
Message-Id: <1.5.4.32.19971008201648.008b2650@www.biblio.org>
From: Amy Terlaga <aterlaga@www.biblio.org>
To: Multiple recipients of list <conntech>
Subject: Re: Can of Worms

At 03:44 PM 10/8/97 -0400, Sandy Brooks wrote:

>Well, I'm not really answering your questions, but it seems to me what a
lot of libraries 
>are doing is having some unfiltered Internet access, and at least one
filtered Internet 
>station, usually in the children's area, if they are lucky enough to have
more than one 
>Internet workstation.  This seems a good middle road for now - you can
offer both types 
>of access depending on patron's preferences/needs, you can feel better
about children 
>having less chance of seeing something inappropriate, and you can hopefully
avoid a 
>lawsuit for either having only filtered or unfiltered access.  It neatly
sidesteps a lot of 
>issues that librarians still need to deal with, but it does allow libraries
to get on with 
>day-to-day functions and offer Internet access while some of these big
philosophical 
>questions get worked out.

Yes, she's exactly right on this observation.

Joe, I've written an article for October's _Connecticut Libraries_ on
Library Internet Access and Kids.  I interviewed several children's
librarians over the phone, and the above described middle-of-the-road
position had been embraced by at least one.

Made a lot of sense to me.

Amy
 
>Sandy Brooks
>Assistant Director
>Eastern CT Libraries
>106 Route 32
>Franklin, CT 06254
>sbrooks@ecl.org
>
>
>
>
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Amy Terlaga                           Libraries Sharing Computerized Services
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