Why Librarians Are Defending Your Right to Watch Porn at the Library
The ALA published a report investigating the use of filters and found they were disproportionately blocking out left-leaning views on issues such as gay marriage and abortion. LGBT community websites were often blocked and identified as “sexual” sites.
They also found that low-income individuals are more impacted by filters. If you’re able to afford internet at home and aren’t finding the information you need at school or the library because it’s blocked out, the easy solution is to head home and Google it there. But for those whose only access point to the internet is at school or the public library, filters can choke out their ability to have the same access to information as their peers. Libraries in lower-income communities are also more likely to have filters because they lean on government funding and can’t afford separate labs.
And of course, there’s the slippery slope argument: if we start with pornography, where do we go from there? What’s appropriate in the eyes of one person might be wildly offensive to someone else.
Michael Sauers is the Director of Logan Library in Logan, UT. Prior to this he was one of the founding staff and Technology Manager for Do Space in Omaha, NE. After earning his MLS in 1995 from the University at Albany's School of Information Science and Policy Michael spent his first 20 years as a librarian training other librarians in technology along with time as a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, a technology consultant, and a bookseller. He has written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines and has published 14 books ranging from library technology, blogging, Web design, and an index to a popular horror magazine. In his spare time, he blogs at TravelinLibrarian.info, runs The Collector's Guide to Dean Koontz website at CollectingKoontz.com, takes many, many photos, and typically reads more than 100 books a year.
Unless otherwise stated, all opinions are my own and are not to be considered those of the City of Logan, UT.
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The ALA published a report investigating the use of filters and found they were disproportionately blocking out left-leaning views on issues such as gay marriage and abortion. LGBT community websites were often blocked and identified as “sexual” sites.
