Dian Hoffpiaur is Director at Ada County Community Library, Lynn Melton is
Director at Boise Public Library, Charles Bolles is the Idaho State
Librarian, Rand Simmons is the Technology person at the Idaho State Library
and Susannah Price is Youth Services Librarian at Boise Public.
Lori Keenan
>I believe that about 17 people spoke at the public hearing.
>My impression was that a majority were opposed to filtering,
>although I did not keep a careful count.
>
>The meeting was extremely well run, and not nearly as
>contentious as I thought it might be. Much of the credit for
>this must go to Dian Hoffpiaur and her board for carefully
>planning the meeting. Dick Davey the board chair laid out
>some excellent ground rules before anyone spoke, and he
>addressed the issue very evenhandedly. He also stressed
>that the board was looking for solutions to the problem,
>rather than restatements of positions.
>
>Representatives of both the Idaho Family Forum and the
>ACLU spoke. There were a couple of mental health
>professionals who spoke--one for each side of the issue.
>Many of the speakers were parents.
>
>Those speakers for filtering were concerned about their kids
>and others getting pornography off the Internet at the library.
>They felt that filtering was far enough advanced to allow the
>library to filter pornography without impinging of the rights of
>others to get legitimate information. They felt that the library
>had a responsibility to restrict kids from getting material off
>the `net which they considered to be potentially harmful to
>them.
>
>Those who spoke against filtering, which included Charlie,
>Rand and Susannah, stated that filters did eliminate
>legitimate Internet sites. Susannah mentioned that filters
>would eliminate information on breast cancer and other
>important medical information. Charlie asked the board to
>consider how they would deal with requests to filter other
>kinds of objectionable material--such as requests to filter
>material on violence, racism, or to filter for political
>correctness--if they decided to filter sexual materials. He
>also stated that filtering would serve as a challenge to
>hackers to beat the filter, and could actually cause more
>interest in getting pornography as a way of flaunting
>authority. Rand pointed out that the uncontrolled nature of
>the Internet made it virtually impossible to filter effectively,
>and that any filter would eliminate legitimate sites as well.
>He stated that filtering would give patrons a false sense of
>security, which could have legal implications.
>
>Most of the parents who spoke felt that it was primarily the
>parents responsibility to control their children's behavior. A
>number, however, said that they would like the library to
>allow parents to restrict their children's use of the
>Internet--possibly by placing a sticker on the card of a child
>whose parent had given them permission to use the `net.
>
>The library board members asked a number of good
>questions. Some focused on the age at which a child's use
>of the library should not be restricted by their parents. There
>were a number of questions about the effectiveness of
>filtering.
>
>The board did not make a decision, but did put the issue on
>the agenda for the next meeting. I felt it was a good public
>hearing that helped educate both board members and the
>public about this difficult intellectual freedom issue.
>
>**************************************************************
>
>Gardner Hanks
>Continuing Education Consultant
>Idaho State Library
>325 W. State
>Boise, ID 83702-6072
>ghanks@isl.state.id.us
>(208) 334-2153
>FAX (208) 334-4016
>
Lori Keenan, Director
Latah County Library District
110 S. Jefferson Street
Moscow, ID 83843
tel: (208)882-3923
fax: (208) 882-5098
e-mail: lkeenan@norby.latah.lib.id.us
IF YOUR SHIP DOESN'T COME IN, SWIM OUT TO IT. -- Jonathan Winters