Minnesota librarians are pondering how to comply with a state law that goes into effect July 1 requiring public and school libraries to block Internet access to obscenity and child pornography for both adults and children using either filtering software or “other effective methods.”
The wording of the law, signed by Governor Jesse Ventura May 15, is causing library legal advisers to reexamine their current policies to see if they will comply without the libraries having to resort to the use of filters, according to Kim Edson, chair of the Minnesota Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee. Edson told American Libraries the new law asks for content restrictions, putting librarians in the role of law enforcement agents.
“Librarians may be put in the position of having to interpret if something being displayed on the screen meets the legal definition of obscenity and child pornography,” Edson said.
Posted June 19, 2000.