Should Filters Be Used In Childrens' Rooms?

Much of what drives the campaign for filters is a strong association between public libraries and children. A 1996 Benton Foundation survey found that children's services were more strongly supported than any other public library service, with 83% of survey respondents rating children's services as "very important." One man in a focus group commented that "the library is actually for the children, really."²⁰ This perception of libraries as being for children, can sometimes be at odds with the desire to provide adult patrons the freedom to view. As Filtering Facts puts it, "The community entrusts its children to be safe in the library because the community assumes that the library has some minimum standards for what types of materials a child might encounter at the library. The community will not entrust the library to be a safe place for children if it becomes the equivalent of an adult book store."²¹

The ALA would respond that libraries are wonderful places for children and parents to visit together. The ALA says, "Libraries favor parents' control of their children's use of the Internet. Only unfiltered Internet access accommodates both parental control and sensitive recognition of the First Amendment rights of young people."²² The ALA claims that "From the libraries' perspective, it is the parents and only the parents who should decide what their children will access in the library."²³

While this rhetoric seems like a good way to preserve access to constitutionally protected materials while keeping children safe, it comes with a price. First of all, not all working parents will have the resources or time to accompany their children to the library. Second, the constant affirmation of parents' right to control and monitor children's use of library materials can conceivably raise ugly questions from parents. The more libraries assert parent's rights and responsibilities to control their children's library use, the harder it will be to explain to parents why their children's circulation records are confidential, why they cannot designate certain books off limits, and why they do not have the option of filtering for their own children. These questions will be a challenge for children's librarians, but they should expect to answer them more often as libraries assert the importance of parental control.

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Alternatives To Filtering

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