On November 11, the board of the Shiawassee District Library met to decide on a new filtering policy. After a long debate, our community has a new library Internet use policy in place.
. . . .
The bottom line of the November 11 meeting of the Board of Trustees is that an effective filtering policy was approved. This policy includes (for the Owosso branch):
- Filtering of all computers
- A form that a patron can fill out to request review of a site that they believe should be unblocked (or blocked)
- A form that a patron 18 years or older can fill out to request that the filter be disabled for legitimate reasons (this is in agreement with Supreme Court findings) NOTE: This form will require signature and agreement to the policies of the library against obscenity.
- The two computers which may (upon request) have the filters disabled will face and be within view of the librarians at the circulation desk, and they will be trained to deal with breaches of policy.
Director Steven Flayer specifically stated that these measures have been instituted for the sake of accountability.
If this policy is implemented effectively, it really is everything that the Citizens For Filtering could ask for!
The final policy appears on the Library website.
The December meeting will continue a discussion of which filter to use at the library. It is evident that the current filter is not as good as some that are available, because one of the news reporters at the library witnessed for herself that nudity was openly displayed on one of the computers (a computer that is filtered by the current filter). But Director Steven Flayer said he is working with a tech person to “tweak” the filter so that it works better, and he will have more information about it at the next meeting.
Stay tuned . . . and if you can come to that meeting next week, it will be December 9th (location to be announced).
Congratulations to all who have participated in bringing about this result!
What this experience shows is that our constitutional democratic process works at the grass roots level. More importantly, it shows that we DO NEED TO SPEAK OUT when we can. We NEED to attend meetings of the various governmental boards, like our township and city councils, etc. We NEED to speak up for the truth.
Our failure to do this is the reason we are where we are today . . . deep in debt, mired in unemployment, starving for corporate and civil decency.
Please, don’t stop here . . . continue to be involved. Run for office. Talk about issues. Don’t be afraid to speak what you believe to be the truth! We can get our country back!
