March 25, 2005
Half Full - Filtering in UK Libraries
I received an email from a library student, Jennifer Meharg, in the U.K. who found that libraries in her part of the world were not filtering according to their Internet Use Policy. She suggested her findings suggested my "half-empty" analysis was probably closer to the truth (see Filter Effectiveness - Who Cares?).
Meharg reported that she visited five libraries with URLs and topics in hand. Her goal was to conduct research on her topics and to try to visit each of the 72 URLs from a public access computer in each library. Despite the fact that her research was not in violation of any of the libraries' Internet Use Policies, she found many of her attempts to access the information blocked by the filters.
She further stated, "I am truly appalled at the speed with which filtering has taken hold here and even more shocked at the lack of debate. Unlike the ALA, our professional organisation CILIP has been very weak and has not taken any kind of leadership position on the issue of filtering. Perhaps even more shocking is the level of complacency I've encountered, never mind the complete abdication of responsibilty to IT departments."
I hope to receive a copy of the Meharg's dissertation and if she doesn't mind, I'll share it. Sounds like she might be doing some good work over yonder. Keep at it, Jennifer!
Posted by Lori at 4:42 PM | Permalink