Users can also hyperlink to electronic publications, and avail themselves of other features useful for reference, interlibrary loan and cataloguing such as saving, downloading and customizing. The Police Services Board in London, Ont., has sent a letter to the London Public Library asking the library to filter Internet access. Canadian public libraries have a strong commitment to informing citizens, especially children and their parents, of the diversity of material on the Internet and of the importance of teaching children safe use of the Internet. A Parents Guide to Safety on the Internet for this very purpose.
Tests show that Internet filters fail to block some sites that they claim to block.
Moreover, they cannot distinguish context and therefore exclude many useful sites. As our pamphlet notes, there is only one effective filter, and that filter is the parent. The London Public Library has 27 public Internet workstations at 12 branches. Filtering software is currently installed on one terminal in the children's section of the central library as part of a privately sponsored community project, but Margaret Mitchell, director of public services at the library, said the software is ineffective and the library does not endorse it. He said the issue is access to information.