Saratoga News

Computers in children's section will have filters

By John Pancharian

Santa Clara County libraries will soon have to spend more than $8,000 on software and a server that may be obsolete by early next year.

This comes as the result of a decision by the Santa Clara County Library District Joint Powers Authority. At its April 23 meeting, the JPA voted unanimously to require all computers in the children's sections of county libraries to receive filters--software intended to block access to offensive material on the Internet.

The JPA made its decision after hearing recommendations from its four-member Internet Task Force--which included Saratoga representative Stan Bogosian, a city councilmember.

According to the version of the six-point recommendation the JPA adopted, both of the children's terminals in the Saratoga Community Library must have filtered Internet access within three months. Saratoga Library Commission chairwoman Marcia Manzo explained that similar changes throughout the county will require the libraries to spend about $8,000 for a sub-server and another $1,000 to $2,000 for software licenses.

But the JPA expects to upgrade all county library terminals to use the Windows NT operating system, probably by January 1999. At that time the JPA plans to use NT's ability to implement a menu option on Internet terminals, allowing patrons to choose filtered or open access. This means that the expense may only buy about five months of filtering.

The debate over whether to filter Internet access at county libraries goes back to the middle of last year. At that time, members of a Gilroy-based advocacy group called KIDS (Keep the Internet Decent and Safe) began frequenting JPA meetings. KIDS members, concerned that children can access pornography via computers at the library, began speaking in favor of filters during the public-presentations sections of those meetings.

Soon county librarians, other library patrons, educators and an attorney from the American Civil Liberties Union began showing up to speak against installing filters. As the number of concerned citizens with a case to make grew, JPA meetings ground to a halt at public presentations, and the board was unable to perform any other business.

In spite of this months-long and often rancorous debate, both sides seemed pleased by the JPA's decision.

"I think the JPA was really in a tough place," said Manzo, who opposed installing filters. "They've done a good job trying to find solutions for the citizens' concerns." Manzo said that library staff, which uniformly opposed filters, is resigned to children's filters but happy that the adult terminals will remain open-access.

Sandi Zappa, co-founder of KIDS, seemed satisfied for now. "We feel this is a very positive step," she said. "We feel that's the best way to sum it up; this is a step." Saratoga KIDS member Teri Jones said she is pleased with the decision.

"Everybody got something on this," JPA Internet Task Force leader Elayne Dauber said. "Saratoga [library] is desperate for space. So long as we were bogged down by this Internet debate, we couldn't work toward finding Saratoga more space."

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