Online databases from companies like Ebsco and Gale offer excellent opportunities for research appropriate to varying ages and maturity levels. Filters provide one means of Internet access control. Adult supervision, classes that help students assume responsibility, Acceptable Use Policies, local control of Internet regulation, and good Web sites provide the best control. The freedom accorded the Internet by the Supreme Court has left the door open for Internet filtering in school libraries. In many school districts, the issue has been decided.
Filters are already in place.
The Chattanooga Hamilton County School system in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is presently using state funded software. Developed by N2H2, a Seattle based Internet company, the software blocks keywords. Teachers have the ability to obtain an override pass for classes working on given assignments, breast cancer, for example. As librarians we value and defend the First Amendment. We want to protect students from pornography, while giving them as much freedom as possible to select and reject Internet materials.