On Sept. 15, 2016, AL Live! hosted a webinar featuring (in order of presentation) Bob Bocher (Fellow, ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy), Doug Archer (Peace Studies and Global Affairs librarian at University of Notre Dame’s Hesburgh Libraries), Michael Robinson… Read More ›
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Filtering: The Critical Difference between “All” and “Most”
One of the nine common beliefs set forth in the AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner is as follows: “Equitable access is a key component to education. All children deserve equitable access to books and reading, to information, and to… Read More ›
Banned Books Week 2016: Moving Beyond Diversity of Content to Diversity of Information Access
Banned Books Week, hosted by the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom, raises awareness of an issue that is near and dear to the hearts of librarians everywhere: the freedom to read. What many librarians may not realize (and… Read More ›
Marginalizing the marginalized with Internet filtering
Posted on behalf of Doug Johnson for Banned Websites Awareness Day High school student Rachel is increasingly concerned over racial issues in her community and plans to write her senior thesis on this topic. There is an active “Black Lives Matter” movement… Read More ›
Championing Internet Access for Students on Banned Websites Awareness Day
Posted on behalf of the AASL Banned Websites Awareness Day Committee It’s happened to all of us– we’re at school trying to access the perfect website for a learning activity at school and…. it’s blocked. Now what? While banning books is… Read More ›
Banned Web Sites: Are Your Policies Up-To-Date?
In looking over an assignment to develop a library reconsideration policy that I gave to my graduate students, it occurred to me that an important information element is missing. Every reconsideration policy that I surveyed had the usual slots for… Read More ›
The Latest on Internet Filtering from ALA
In 2000 Congress passed the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) with the purpose of protecting children and young adults online. Unfortunately, the law’s requirements have been misinterpreted by many school districts resulting in filters overblocking legitimate educational websites and interactive… Read More ›