Furthermore, much professional guidance on ILL and on patron reading habits in general focus on the patron's right to privacy. Ia addition, librarians do not arrange ILL services so that patron's choice of reading material is on display for the world to see. Just the opposite is true. Materials, as they are processed in and out of the library, are treated with a focus on patron confidentiality. For this and other reasons, policies that permit unblocking certain websites on request are ineffective.
Patrons tend to be stigmatized by prejudicial labels associated with filtering software.
Moreover, such unblocking on request policies cannot overcome the problems caused by the use of secret blocking lists that are continuously updated. Another problem of relying on filtering is the adverse impact on access to information caused by technical problems with software programs. Errors can occur at the software company or at the local library that limit access to websites that were never intended to be blocked. Such errors can be difficult, if not impossible, to detect, and can cause the restriction of valuable information for extended periods of time. Such errors are not a risk for libraries that utilize less restrictive means of providing for and regulating Internet usage.