I thought it might be interesting to point out a few of the more controversial and/or interesting subjects in libraryland at the moment, and get your opinions and reactions.
What do you think about ...
Harry Potter
Harry Potter books were the most-frequently challenged of 2000. Is Harry an evil influence on kids or harmless fun and great reading?
Harry Potter Critic Wants Parents to Decide What's Read Aloud in Schools, freedomforum.org
Who's Afraid of Harry Potter?, Christianity.com
Harry Potter Wins Round Against Canadian 'Muggles', CNN.com, September 20, 2000.
Purging Flame: Pa. Church Members Burn Harry Potter, Other Books 'Against God', ABCNews.com, March 26, 2001.
Is Harry Potter Evil?, by Judy Blume (National Coalition Against Censorship)
For-Profit Libraries
Are these companies threats to academic libraries?
Digital-Library Company Plans to Charge Students a Monthly Fee for Access, The Chronicle of Higher Education, November 14, 2000.
Information Services for Higher Education: A New Competitive Space, D-lib Magazine, December 2000. By Carol Ann Hughes, Questia Media, Inc.
Questioning Questia by Rory Litwin, Library Juice
Commercial Digital Libraries and the Academic Community: How New Firms Might Develop New Relationships between "Publisher" and Higher Education, D-lib Magazine, January 2001. By Gregory Cane, Tufts University.
Filtering
This has been one of the largest issues for a long time, but especially since the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) was passed by Congress in December, requiring libraries to install filters on all computers offering Internet access or lose their e-rate funding. Here are various articles and Websites about "both sides" of this issue:
Filtering the Internet in American Public Libraries: Sliding Down the Slippery Slope, by Jeannette Allis Bastian, First Monday, 1997.
Installing Internet filters seen as problem for library , Michigan City News-Dispatch, April 24, 2001.
Children's Internet Protection Act Encourages Adults To Be Responsible , Concerned Women for America, March 20, 2001.
FilteringInfo.org - Discusses compliance, funding, and other issues. From N2H2, Inc., a supplier of Internet filtering software to K-12 schools.
Internet Pornography Use Common In Many Libraries? , Maranatha Christian Journal, March 21, 2000.
FilterGate, or Knowing What We're Walling In or Walling Out, by Art Wolinsky, MultiMedia Schools, May/June 2001.
ALA's CIPA Site - CIPA news, next steps for libraries, next steps for ALA, and related information.
Filters and Filtering - Intellectual freedom, filtering policy statements, and other information from ALA.
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