Acknowledging “the difference between school libraries, school computer labs, and school media centers . . . and public libraries, which are designed for public inquiry,” the bill goes on to require the installation in schools and libraries of blocking technology “designed to restrict student access to material that is reasonably believed to be obscene or child pornography or material harmful to minors under federal or state law.” It also stipulates that adults in public libraries be blocked from accessing material “that is reasonably believed to be obscene or child pornography” according to federal or state law, but allows unblocking for patrons 18 and older who say they are conducting bona fide research “without significant delay and without requiring the adult to explain the request.” The bill requires school districts and library systems to e-mail their compliance to the Minnesota Department of Education to ensure receipt of state funding.
Academic libraries are specifically exempt from the requirement.
“Internet pornography is quite prevalent out there, both in libraries and outside of libraries,” House bill sponsor Rep. Jeff Johnson (R-Plymouth) said in the May 6 St. Cloud Times. “The issue here isn’t that we want folks to access obscene sites,” disagreed Rep. Carlos Mariani (DFL-St. Paul). “We want our libraries to be places where the culture of that institution is about freedom of speech, freedom of access to information.”
Posted May 14, 2004.