Internet+Filters

=Internet Filters=

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=What is the issue?= Internet filtering can be a contentious issue for teacher-librarians, as well as other educators. Although most school districts or divisions mandate filters for all computers, including those in school libraries, we also have a priority of defending intellectual freedom.

=What problems arise from Internet filters?= Filtering does not necessarily solve all of the problems for which they are intended; for example, filter software may stop malware from corrupting systems, but may not stop students from accessing content that is deemed inappropriate. Many filter systems in place deny both students and teachers access to popular sites such as YouTube, as well as social networking giants such as FaceBook and MySpace and webmail providers such as Yahoo!. Web 2.0 applications have many of us excited about their possibilities for education and engagement, but access in schools is often limited by filters. Furthermore, the denial of access to electronic sources could be considered as a challenge to printed materials, and a teacher-librarian should be prepared to deal with that situation.

=How does this issue affect you as a teacher-librarian?= As a teacher-librarian, you have a responsibility to: -know how your filtering system works, including what kinds of sites and applications will be unavailable to computer users -advocate for access to blocked sites that teaching staff deem essential to learning experiences -be aware of both your library’s selection policy and procedures to follow in the course of a complaint -ensure parent and student agreements for Internet use are in place

=Further Resources =

For a comprehensive look at filtering, see Jenny Ryan’s 2003 capping paper [|here]. [][|here]

 A good source for issues surrounding filters and internet censorship was written by Alvin Schrader and can be accessed [|here]. (For a more detailed research paper on the issue, please see:  Schrader, Alvin M. (1998). Internet censorship: Access issues for school librarians in a cyberspace world. //Education for all: Culture, reading and information. Selected papers//. 27th International Conference of the International Association of School Librarianship, Ramat-Gan, Israel, July 5-10, 1998. Eds. Snunith Shham and Moshe Yitzhaki. IASL, 1998, pp. 189-210.)

An intro to filters and intellectual freedom issues written by Lori Ayre can be found [|here]. Ayre, L. (2004). INTRODUCTION. //Library Technology Reports//, //40//(2), 5. Retrieved from MasterFILE Premier database.  []

 Library Technology Reports includes many further articles on such issues as how they work, conflicts surrounding the use of filters in libraries, finding, selecting, and evaluating filters, and best practices for using filters in libraries, and the March/April 2004 issue specifically contains relevant information.