When libraries in Frederick County, Maryland, connect to the Internet late this summer, filtering software will be installed on computers in the children's sections, but not in the young adult and adult areas.
Public Libraries Director Darrell Batson told the April 14 Frederick News-Post that the decision to filter only selected terminals is a moderate approach that will likely make "both sides unhappy." Asked if public pressure might make the library consider across-the-board filtering, Batson responded that such a policy would be wrong. "We'd then be crossing a line. The problem with filters is you're telling someone somewhere that these are our standards," he said, adding that "We're not going to be thought police."
A decision last October by the library board in neighboring Allegany County to install filters on children's-area computers prompted the resignation of Director Jane Rustin.
Posted April 19, 1999.