Library Filtering Is Constitutional,
Rules S.C. Attorney General
“A public library can constitutionally filter filth from the eyes of children,” South Carolina Attorney General Charlie Condon said April 25 in response to a request for an opinion from state Sen. Mike Fair (R-Greenville). “A public library is not an adult bookstore or pornographic peep show.” Fair sponsored two bills earlier this year that would have affected unrestricted access to Web information in libraries.
Coincidentally, one of the bills, which requires Internet-use policies for all publicly funded libraries, passed both houses April 27, South Carolina State Librarian Jim Johnson told American Libraries. A provision in the House bill that troubles Johnson would impose a one-year test of filters’ efficacy in three volunteering public libraries and three school districts. “If you could do a test reliably, someone would have done it a long time ago,” he said.
Condon’s statement is the second pro-restriction opinion he has issued recently. On September 24 he stated that the Chester County School Board had the right to remove Norma Klein’s Beginners’ Love because the First Amendment “does not prohibit removal of indecent or offensive material.”
Posted May 1, 2000.
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