HT Letter to the editor

Here's a letter to the editor in reference to our Internet and Computer Use policy (one of the things I was presenting to the board for annual review). The quote he's referring to comes from a previous HT article in which another manager is quoted - I ducked being the person to give that interview, well, because I'm a chicken.

Opposes library policy
To the editor:

Our library — by refusing to filter Internet content — has again affirmed the right of 13-year-olds to surf porn. I am for all the correct things (Obama, choice, separation of church and state). I am against all the correct things (Bush, rampant growth, nearly every Haverstock opinion). Since millions were spent on our library in the 1990s without creating adequate parking, I have not forgiven MCPL and the elitist, superior, granola, Birkenstock culture that pulsates through and around it. They may be Democrats, but they’re no democrats.

While many of us have dared to hope lately about political reform at the national level, we are naïve not to worry that Democrats in power will self-destruct in an orgy of excess. Our library has long been a Petri dish for that phenomenon.

Our library has drifted away from community values. An MCPL official states cavalierly, “We’re not going to put ourselves in the position of being the parents.” You’re not going to protect my 5th grader from porn? Then you need to seek opportunities elsewhere to express your values about intellectual freedom. We’ll see where your values lie when people of common sense have their hands on the money valve. [HT link (registration required)]

I can understand the interest in filtering, but if we were to implement it we'd most likely make it an optional feature, so the idea that kids (or anyone else) would somehow be magically constrained in their ability to access objectionable material seems a little unrealistic to me. But like I said, I can understand why people want it anyway.