LibraryLaw Blog

Are there any studies on the burden, impact on users when library filters overblock web content?

Perhaps someone has studied this as a thesis or library school article, (or anywhere) and you can point me to the right place.   I'm NOT looking for a study that looks at whether filters work or don't work.

I'm looking for a study that looks at the other side of the equation - what information is lost when filters overblock and patrons don't get the information they need?   I'm especially interested in libraries that have filters but will unblock or disable them on request, yet patrons don't ask.

All of us who have worked in libraries know that patrons are often reluctant to ask librarians for help finding material. This is especially true for sensitive issues, like reproductive and other health concerns.   How often are libraries that use filters ASKED by users to UNBLOCK or disable them?  If they're not asked frequently, why not? Is it that the filters work fantastically well, blocking only pornography, or that the bother, embarrassment, burden etc. keeps patrons from asking for help?

"Please unblock this site on erectile dysfunction"  may not be the most fun question to ask the librarians for help on, for example.  Websites on abuse, contraception as well as random other topics can all fall victim to overblocking.  Is there anyone out there studying this issue - or even able to suggest a framework to study the issue?

Google Book Search - has our Library Law book

I just discovered that Google Book Search has the library law book I coauthored with Tomas Lipinski The Library's Legal Answer Book is on "limited preview" with permisison from the publisher, ALA Editions.   I like it - it give some free pages and shows people easily how they can buy it or find in a bricks and mortar library.

Hooray - I figured out how to use tags instead of categories in this blog

As I suspected, it's much easier and more flexible.  So if any of you are looking for new posts based on categories, you may not find them. Use the technorati tags at the bottom of a post instead. If it works like I think it will, I'll probably stop using categories altogether.

Update: It looks as if users who click on a technorati tag below will get everyone in the world's posts with those tags. That's useful, but it would be nice to have an option to limit it to this blog, the way flickr does.  Well, there's always the search button in the blog...

Law for Librarians

"Legal Ease: What Staff, Administrators, and Trustees Need to Know about Libraries and the Law,"  is a preconference sponsored by the Oregon Library Association on April 18, 2007. Even if you can't make it to Corvallis, check out the slew of useful legal materials for libraries that OLA has posted (with permission) from the ALA Law for Librarians conference last spring. 

Is your library's filter company quietly changing its agenda?

A letter to the LibraryLaw Blog:

Ms. Minow:

I’m only a recent, and now sure to be regular, reader of the LibraryLaw Blog (what an excellent resource) and am also a big fan of your article “Lawfully Surfing the Net…,” which I cited in many papers during library school.

I’m emailing because I would like to know your thoughts about a recent event.   On February 26, 2007, ContentWatch purchased the popular filtering program Net Nanny (http://www.netnanny.com/netnanny).  I know of several public libraries that use Net Nanny to comply with CIPA.  Since I’ve been looking at Nancy Willard’s research on Internet filtering companies and religious affiliations (http://www.csriu.org/onlinedocs/documents/religious2.html), this change of hands is especially concerning.

On the ContentWatch page http://www.netnanny.com/learn_center/safe_sites_family, there is a link to “Keep Your Children Safe Online,” which links to http://www.child-internet-safety.com/.  This page includes one quote from Tommera Press, co-publisher with Fires of Darkness of the book “Riding a Dead Horse: Carousel to Hell,” by Tom Buford.  Buford’s web site, firesofdarkness.com, is devoted to overcoming porn addiction and features a link to an interview with Buford on the 700 Club.  Another quote featured on child-internet-safety.com is attributed to the Christian Broadcasting Network.

ContentWatch also maintains a list of articles about pornography and child safety under the heading “LearningCenter.”  Their list on pornography includes articles such as “Internet Porn Is a Drug and Pornographers Are Drug Dealers” and “It’s Not About the First Amendment,” both by Mark Kastleman (who has published a book called “The Drug of the New Millennium: The Science of How Internet Pornography Radically Alters the Human Brain and Body,” published by Granite Publishers, which is affiliated with the Latter Day Saints).  Also archived is the article “DOJ busts Website for Obscenity,” by Jan LaRue, who is chief counsel for Concerned Women for America.

In the spirit of Willard’s research, it seems that public libraries should perhaps rethink their use of Net Nanny, especially if it infringes upon the First Amendment’s establishment of religion clause.  It will be interesting to see if Net Nanny users notice a difference in blocking activity or access in the coming weeks.  Any thoughts about ContentWatch in public libraries?

Thank you for sharing so many thought-provoking ideas via the blog and your articles.

================

Readers, any thoughts?

New legislation to make libraries and schools block MySpace - House bill introduced Feb. 16th

In case you thought DOPA was too outrageous to get traction, think again.  Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) introduced a DOPA companion bill in the House HR 1120 that already has 12 cosponsors.

Yes, we all want to Delete Online Predators (DOP-A). 

But why stop at blocking social networking websites?  While we're at it, let's not allow kids use their email accounts at the library. Or adults, since they could be the bad guys.  Yeah - no email.  And people shouldn't really look up information on the web, either. They could be up to no good. Let's watch what they're looking at, to find out. That would sure cut down on demand for library terminals, a win-win! No more lines.

MySpace and libraries fate now in Senate Committee

More bad news for libraries.  According to THOMAS, the latest iteration of DOPA is b-a-a-ack.  That's the bill that would require libraries and schools with erate to block MySpace etc.

DOPA (Deleting Online Predators Act) is now part of S 49, Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act introduced by Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) Jan. 4, 2007.  It's now in referral to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

It's time to contact your senator if he or she is on this committee.  Last year, it sailed through the House, but didn't make it to the Senate. 

Commitee Members:

Democrats
 
Chairman Daniel K. Inouye (HI)
John D. Rockefeller (WV)
John F. Kerry (MA)
Byron L. Dorgan (ND)
Barbara Boxer (CA)
Bill Nelson (FL)
Maria Cantwell (WA)
Frank R. Lautenberg (NJ)
Mark Pryor (AR)
Thomas Carper (DE)
Claire McCaskill (MO)
Amy Klobuchar (MN)

Republicans
Co-Chairman Ted Stevens (AK)
John McCain (AZ)
Trent Lott (MS)
Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX)
Olympia J. Snowe (ME)
Gordon H. Smith (OR)
John Ensign (NV)
John E. Sununu (NH)
Jim DeMint (SC)
David Vitter (LA)
John Thune (SD)


For full text of current DOPA, see below:

Great insights on the death of DOPA

Really informative behind-the-scenes look at why the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA) died "on the vine" last session, by Andy Carvin at PBS TeacherSource Dec. 29, 2006.   Hat tip to Jonathan Kelley for directing me to it. 

A comment there by Don Wood points to lots of good resources on MySpace, Libraries, DOPA et al. such as an ALA Wiki and Podcast.

For California library folks - free webcast update on internet policy issues in the post-CIPA environment.

Hope to see you there!

Internet, CIPA, and Sexual Harassment, an Infopeople webcast Thurs Sept. 7 at Noon

It's been three years since the Supreme Court upheld the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), which requires libraries with certain federal aid to "protect against access" to visual depictions of child pornography, obscenity, and material "harmful to minors". Should the library block MySpace? This webcast will fill you in on important post-CIPA developments that may affect your library's Internet use policies - including what the courts have said about the clash between the public's rights of free speech and employee rights to be free from sexual harassment.

This is why blogs are useful to blog writers

... because we can ask readers for help and ideas. 

I used this blogspace to ask for help when I was preparing a webcast about libraries and homeless users. I got some really great responses, especially from John Gehner, Coordinator of the Hunger, Homelessness & Poverty Task Force (ALA-SRRT).  That helped me realize the power of blogging.  It's you, the reader.

Now it can be your turn to help me prepare my next webcast :>  It'll be on Sept. 7th for Infopeople, on the Internet, CIPA, and Sexual Harassment.

Does anyone have thoughts, great sources, lawsuits, important questions that I should focus on wrt the the Internet, sexual harassment, DOPA and libraries?

And while you're here, is there someone who can tell me if I can use flickr-like tags in addition to categories on Typepad?  I would love to have that freedom (if it's easy!)

The Sept 7th webcast description is below:

It's been three years since the Supreme Court upheld the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), which requires libraries with certain federal aid to "protect against access" to visual depictions of child pornography, obscenity, and material "harmful to minors". Should the library block MySpace? This webcast will fill you in on important post-CIPA developments that may affect your library's Internet use policies - including what the courts have said about the clash between the public's rights of free speech and employee rights to be free from sexual harassment.