91´«Ã½

PHILADELPHIA—It's been ten years since the Children’s Internet Protection Act—the law that requires public libraries and K-12 schools to employ internet filtering software in exchange for certain federal funding—was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court as constitutional. During the past decade, how have libraries coped with the law's filtering requirements? What can be done to ensure open and equitable access to information while complying with the law?

Join library leaders at "," an interactive session that will be held during the 2014 91´«Ã½ Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia. Panelists will discuss the difficult issues faced by librarians developing and managing internet use policies. Panelists will wade through legal requirements, ethical arguments, factual issues, and the potential long-term impacts of filtering. The session will take place Sunday, January 26, 2014, from 1:00-2:30 p.m., in the Pennsylvania Convention Center, room 203 A.

During the program, speakers will discuss a new 91´«Ã½ report that will explore the impacts of filtering on K-12 education, public library users' access to online information and professional library practice. The report provides a set of recommendations for the future. As part of the session, program speakers will solicit feedback on recommendations from the report.

Session speakers include Helen Adams, online instructor, Mansfield University; Kirsten Batch, consultant, 91´«Ã½ Office for Information Technology Policy; Martin Garnar, professor and reference services librarian, Regis University; and Chris Harris, school library system coordinator, Genesee Valley Educational Partnership (NY).

The session is jointly sponsored by the 91´«Ã½ Office for Intellectual Freedom and the 91´«Ã½ Office for Information Technology Policy.

About the 91´«Ã½

The 91´«Ã½ is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with approximately 57,000 members in academic, public, school, government, and special libraries. The mission of the 91´«Ã½ is to provide leadership for the development, promotion and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.