Those interested in the American Library Association policy to which Trustee Wagner referred during the last regular board meeting should go to this link: Free Access to Libraries for MinorsThis is the core of it:
Article V of the Library Bill of Rights states, "A person's right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views." The "right to use a library" includes free access to, and unrestricted use of, all the services, materials, and facilities the library has to offer. Every restriction on access to, and use of, library resources, based solely on the chronological age, educational level, literacy skills, or legal emancipation of users violates Article V.
Libraries are charged with the mission of developing resources to meet the diverse information needs and interests of the communities they serve. Services, materials, and facilities that fulfill the needs and interests of library users at different stages in their personal development are a necessary part of library resources. The needs and interests of each library user, and resources appropriate to meet those needs and interests, must be determined on an individual basis. Librarians cannot predict what resources will best fulfill the needs and interests of any individual user based on a single criterion such as chronological age, educational level, literacy skills, or legal emancipation.
.....
The mission, goals, and objectives of libraries cannot authorize librarians or library governing bodies to assume, abrogate, or overrule the rights and responsibilities of parents. As "Libraries: An American Value" states, "We affirm the responsibility and the right of all parents and guardians to guide their own children's use of the library and its resources and services." Librarians and governing bodies should maintain that parents—and only parents—have the right and the responsibility to restrict the access of their children—and only their children—to library resources. Parents who do not want their children to have access to certain library services, materials, or facilities should so advise their children. Librarians and library governing bodies cannot assume the role of parents or the functions of parental authority in the private relationship between parent and child.Listen to Trustee Wagner's original motion re the ALA:
Please read earlier post re this issue:
Is Wagner fair to librarians?
In my earlier post, I presented an explanation of the ALA's opposition to the Childrens' Internet Protection Act (CIPA) offered by the (2000-1) president of ALA, John W. Berry. Berry seems to say that minors' access should be restricted to some library resources, if local communities and libraries decide to do that. Berry's objection was to a "one size fits all" federal solution to the problem of shielding children from objectionable resources.
Prima facie, Berry's explanation doesn't square with the "Minors Access" policy above, which seems a priori to oppose restricting access to (e.g.,) pornographic websites for, say, 10-year-old library patrons, unless the kid's parents squawk. Am I wrong?
Let me know what you think. (Any librarians out there? Lawyers? Anybody?) --CW
