Introduction – John Felton, NLC. One of the opportunities available to assist libraries in supporting their broadband connectivity costs is applying for E-rate discounts on internet service. This necessitates complying with the requirements of the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) by filtering internet access. In this session we will hear about what CIPA actually requires, about the issues a library director must deal with when deciding to filter internet access, about how filtering can be accomplished with low cost, and about the results of a survey completed by Nebraska libraries that have installed a filter. CIPA: Myths vs. Reality – Christa Burns, NLC, will clear up some of the misconceptions about CIPA and how it relates to E-rate. Filtering Internet Content – Pam Soreide, Holdrege Area Public Library, & George Matzen, Webermeier Memorial Library. Participants in this session will leave with a sense of what factors should be considered in the decision whether or not to filter Internet content at public workstations. Discussion will include patron perceptions and management issues.

1. Fear of Filtering: The Reality of Internet Content Management<br />Wherever your opinion falls in the debate about whether public libraries should filter what customers can view on the internet, librarians should be continually learning and keeping up with the status of that discussion. Since the 2003 Supreme Court decision in the American Library Association vs. the United States, there has been a lot of hand wringing and emotional uproar surrounding the issue, but not much clear-eyed analysis of the actual consequences of complying with the resulting Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) requirements. <br />We aren’t here to advocate for either position regarding complying with CIPA or not. This training event is about your library’s technology infrastructure and your ability to provide the most effective access to information and resources on the web. Part of the technology planning effort has to be a consideration of how you intend to maintain adequate connectivity to serve your users in an era of economic turmoil. What are some of the methods you could employ to fund this effort? Have you considered all of the opportunities? One of those opportunities is applying for E-rate discounts on your internet service costs. Eighty-six of the 107 Nebraska libraries participating in the E-rate discount program have received 60 to 70 percent discounts on their telecommunications and/or internet access bills. So, you must ask yourself if getting a large discount on your internet bill would help your library afford the costs of maintaining adequate broadband connectivity for your patrons. If the answer is “yes,” how do you justify rejecting this opportunity to reduce your costs?<br />One third of Nebraska’s 270 public libraries have installed internet filters. The results of a survey completed by 78 of these libraries indicate that the most prevalent reason for filtering internet access was financial – that is, to qualify for E-rate discounts. This was followed by concern for the library’s image and reputation and then by community concerns to round out the top three reasons for filtering. <br />Here are some further results of the survey.<br />2. Do you filter internet access on all public access computers or just those used by children?<br />64 - All Public Access Computers (82%)<br />14 - Just Computers Used by Children (18%)<br />3. Does your library currently apply for E-rate discounts on internet service costs?<br />45 – Yes (58%)<br />33 – No (42%)<br />4. Which of the following factors influenced your decision to install an internet filter on library computers? Check all that apply. (Ranked by number of times each factor was chosen)<br />48 - Financial: wanted to qualify for E-rate discounts<br />35 - Public relation: concern about library’s image and reputation<br />28 - Community concerns: citizens expressed strong opinions about filtering internet access<br />21 - Other: (See pages 2 - 3)<br />09 - Political: compelled by local government to filter computers<br />05 - Technical: Receive internet access through another entity that filters content<br />5. Have you received complaints from customers who objected to the fact that your library filters internet access?<br />24 – Yes (31%)<br />54 – No (69%)<br />6. How often have you been asked by a customer in the past year to unblock an internet site? <br />22 – Never (28.2%)<br />19 – One to three times (24.4%)<br />9 - Four to eight times (11.5%)<br />5 - Eight to twelve times (6.4%)<br />23 - More than 12 times (29.5%)<br />7. How difficult is it to unblock an internet site? (75 responses)<br />12 - Very easy (16.0%)<br />33 – Easy (44.0%)<br />13 – Neutral (17.3%)<br />12 - Somewhat difficult (16.0%)<br /> 5 - Very difficult (6.7%)<br />8. Has your internet filter ever permitted access to a website that should have been blocked?<br />26 – Yes (33.3%)<br />17 – No (21.8%)<br />35 - Don’t know (44.9%)<br />9. If you answered ”Yes” to question 8, please estimate how often your internet filter has failed to block a site that was judged to be objectionable (29 responses)<br />2 – Never<br />11 - Rarely<br />11 - Occasionally<br />4 - A moderate number of times<br />1 - A large number of times<br />