Illinois governor pledges support for filters

Speaking before a women's group in July, Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois pledged support to filter children's Internet access in public libraries. Previous legislative attempts in Illinois have failed to get out of committee. Reported in the Illinois Leader.

King and King and fallout

On May 9, the Oklahoma House passed (81-3) HR 1039, a nonbinding resolution asking libraries to restrict children's access to materials with homosexual themes. Rep. Sally Kern (R-Oklahoma City), who introduced the resolution, insists that legislators are not trying to ban books, but believes "there are some issues little children aren't emotionally equipped to tackle, and many parents believe the issue of sexual preference is one of them." (Quoted in American Libraries.)

The Louisiana House defeated a similar resolution on May 24. It too was inspired by a Representative's constituent being disturbed that their child had checked out King and King, a picture book fairy tale in which a prince marries another prince. The Louisiana resolution had removed language which specified gay-themed materials.

On the national level, H.R. 2295, the "Parental Empowerment Act of 2005" introduced by Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) would block federal Education Department funding to states unless each local education agency establishes a "parent review and empowerment council" to vet the acquisition of all library and classroom materials except textbooks. (Rep. Jones had read in the Wilmington (N.C.) Star-News that a 7-year-old had checked King and King out of the school library.

The Upper Arlington (OH) Public Library doesn't own King and King, but they do have free community newspapers available in their buildings -- including Outlook Weekly and Gay People’s Chronicle. Mark Bloom, with the assistance of his children, have been throwing the papers in the trash. Bloom is joined by city council member Tim Rankin, calling for the removal of all "sexually provocative materials" from the library. Coverage in American Libraries, the Columbus Dispatch, and (of course) the targeted newspapers.

[Update September 23: the Upper Arlington library board voted September 20 not to ban the gay papers, and to create new shelving to accomodate all free publications]

ACLU Reports on Use of Filters in R.I. Libraries

American Libraries covers a report by the ACLU that claims public libraries in Rhode Island were inconsistent with their CIPA compliance. Libraries are over-blocking, the report claims, and the statewide consortium has issued confusing information about the law and how filters should be used. Adult patrons are not aware of (or do not take advantage of) the ability to have the filter turned off.

[Update October 10: In response, the Rhodes Island Cooperating Libraries Automated Network (CLAN) revised its minimum requirements for libraries, changed the standardized blocking message screen to inform patrons of their rights, and emailed instructions for removing filters to library directors. More at boston.com.]

File sharing programs and filters

The Government Accountability Office released a report studying peer-to-peer networks and pornography: what P2P clients are available; how easy it is to retrieve (deliberately or accidentally) pornographic files; whether filtering measures are available; and how effective filters are. The study also compared filters on Google, Yahoo, and MSN, and found that MSN's was the most effective in blocking porn, while Yahoo's was largely ineffective. The full report is available in PDF.

Residents want an e-library

An intriguing idea that might possibly gain momentum. The Houston Chronicle reports that the residents of Gulfton, TX, want an e-library, equipped with computer equipment. City Councilman M. J. Khan said, "E-libraries are excellent alternatives when resources are not available for construction and maintenance of library branches." (But wouldn't it cost money to build and maintain the computer lab?)

I heard Susan Kent speak a few years ago about a community scan the Los Angeles Public Library did. They found that users wanted the library to be open more hours, and to have more computers that they could spend more time on (and get more help with).