I just finished up an Infopeople presentation on CIPA and DOPA and this was the most interesting slide/topic discussed. For years now I’ve been pointing out to libraries that may have inconsistent polices and that is exactly what this slide addressed. The presenter pointed out that many libraries who fiter also have adopted the library bill of rights. However, LBR says that the library does not descriminate based on age yet the filtering system does exactly that. A great point! Do you filter based on age? If you do, then you’re in conflict with LBR…
Michael Sauers is currently the Director of Technology for Do Space in Omaha, NE. Michael has been training librarians in technology for the past twenty years and has also been a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, serials cataloger, technology consultant, and bookseller since earning his MLS in 1995 from the University at Albany’s School of Information Science and Policy. Michael has also written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines and his fourteenth book, Emerging Technologies: A Primer for Librarians (w/ Jennifer Koerber) was published in May 2015 and more books are on the way. In his spare time he blogs at travelinlibrarian.info, runs The Collector’s Guide to Dean Koontz Web site, takes many, many photos, and typically reads more than 100 books a year.
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One Reply to “Write consistent policies”
Not to get all loopholey, but LBR says “should not”, not “will not” or “shall not”. There’s also that bit in the preamble that LBR “should guide”. Sounds very recommendationish.
Also, an argument could be made (I’m not saying it’s a good argument) that a policy which appears to discriminate based on age is actually discriminating based on legal status.
So, I’m not sure the conflict is quite so black-and-white.
Disclaimer: IANAL. (I wonder how many times that abbreviation has gotten web pages blocked by filters?) 🙂
Not to get all loopholey, but LBR says “should not”, not “will not” or “shall not”. There’s also that bit in the preamble that LBR “should guide”. Sounds very recommendationish.
Also, an argument could be made (I’m not saying it’s a good argument) that a policy which appears to discriminate based on age is actually discriminating based on legal status.
So, I’m not sure the conflict is quite so black-and-white.
Disclaimer: IANAL. (I wonder how many times that abbreviation has gotten web pages blocked by filters?) 🙂