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Filtering Policy Jeopardizes Rochester Library’s FundingMonroe County (N.Y.) Executive Maggie Brooks has threatened to pull $7.5 million in county funding for the Rochester Public Library’s Central Library because of its policy allowing patrons to view blocked websites on request. The American Civil Liberties Union criticized Brooks’s action February 22 and reproached the library for reacting to it by putting a temporary moratorium on unblocking lawful websites.Brooks became aware of the library’s policy after local television station WHEC captured on camera library computer users viewing pornography within sight of other patrons. “As a mother I was horrified to see our community’s children put in a position of being exposed to matters beyond their comprehension in some cases, in a place designed for learning,” Brooks said in the February 22 Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester Mayor Robert Duffy also opposes the library’s policy. The controversy continues the national debate about the Children’s Internet Protection Act, passed in 2000, which states that libraries receiving federal e-rate funds must limit access to websites with obscene or pornographic content. The RPL Central Library, which expects to receive in 2007 about $240,000 in e-rate revenue, has a policy consistent with a 2003 Supreme Court upholding of CIPA that directs librarians to comply with adults requesting access to blocked websites. Additionally, the Central Library requires the use of tinted privacy screens on computers displaying content from unblocked websites and prohibits their viewing in the areas of the building most heavily used by children. But library trustees temporarily revoked their unblocking policy February 21, citing the fact that the proposed cuts—$6.6 million for operating costs and about $900,000 to pay debts—represent about 70% of the library’s budget. “My personal view is that the funding stream at issue here is so significant that I certainly don’t want to jeopardize it,” George Wolf, head of the Monroe County Library System board, said in the February 23 Democrat and Chronicle. Scott Forsyth, local counsel for the ACLU, said that the organization would consider suing the library if it continued to block access. “What real significant difference is there between denying an adult patron access to these sites and denying patron access to Catcher in the Rye?” he asked. “It becomes a problematic issue for a library to put its staff in the place of arbitrating what is good and bad content, what you can and can’t watch,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, deputy director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. The Monroe County Library System and Rochester Public Library boards are scheduled to discuss the issue at a joint public meeting February 28. Posted February 23, 2007. |
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