NREN | Page 2

in the summer of 1991, hundreds read eyewitness accounts of developments posted to the net by computer users in Moscow and other Soviet cities with network connectivity. A literal hush fell over this side of the network after a plea came across from the Soviet side. We appreciate your messages of encouragement and offers of help, it said, but please save the bandwidth for our outgoing reports!
- Proliferation of discussion groups on the Internet means one can find a niche to discuss everything from cats to Camelot, from library administration to lovers of mysteries, from Monty Python to Medieval History.
-- Predictably, Elvis has been sighted on the Internet.
Besides electronic mail, full text resources may be downloaded from many Internet host computers. Some of these are religious materials, such as the Bible, and the Koran, others are the complete works of Shakespeare, Peter Pan, and Far From the Madding Crowd.
Searchable resources include lyrics from popular songs, chord tablature for guitar, recipes, news articles, government information, Supreme Court Opinions, census data, current and historical weather information, dictionaries, thesauri, the CIA World Fact Book, and much more.
Hundreds of library OPACS may be searched, and those with accounts set up at CARL may use UnCover to find articles of interest, which then may be faxed on demand.
The richness of the Internet changes on a daily basis as more data resources, computer resources, and human resources join those already active on the net.
But, back to that little girl.
How will she get access?
She'll need a plain old telephone line, a modem, a computer, and some communications software. Will her family be able to afford it? If not, will she be able to dial in from her school? Her Post Office? The local feed store? A kiosk at K-Mart?
At the American Library Association's 1992 convention in San Francisco, Gloria Steinem said "the public library is the last refuge of those without modems." I'm sure she meant that the library will act as information provider for those unable to get their information using a home computer's telecommunications connections. But it could be taken another way. Couldn't the public library act as electronic information access centers, providing public modems and telecommunications alongside the books and videos?
Why the Public Library is a good place for NREN access
The public library is an institution based on long-standing beliefs in intellectual freedom and the individual's right to know. Let's revisit ALA's LIBRARY BILL OF RIGHTS, Adopted June 18, 1948; amended February 2, 1961, and January 23, 1980, by the ALA Council.
The American Library Association affirms that all libraries are forums for information and ideas, and that the following basic policies should guide their services.
1. Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.
No problem here. The Internet's resources are as diverse as their creators, from nations all over the world. Every community can find something of interest on the Internet.
2. Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.
3. Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.
4. Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas.
Again, global electronic communication allows discussion and debate in an instant electronic forum. There is no better "reality check" than this.
5. A person's right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.
In a public library, the little girl won't be barred from using the Internet because of her age. The ALA interpretation of the above right states: "Librarians and governing bodies should not resort to age restrictions on access to library resources in an effort to avoid actual or anticipated objections from parents or anyone else. The mission, goals, and objectives of libraries do not authorize librarians or governing bodies to assume, abrogate, or overrule the rights and responsibilities of parents or legal guardians. Librarians and governing bodies should maintain that parents - and only parents - have the right and the responsibility to restrict the access of their children - and only their children - to library resources. Parents or legal guardians who do not want their children to have access to certain library services, materials or facilities, should so advise their children. Librarians and governing bodies cannot assume the role of parents or the functions of parental authority in the private relationship between parent and child. Librarians and governing bodies have a public and professional obligation to provide equal access to all library resources for all library