ALA Statement Gears Up for CIPA

Shortly after it canceled a planned meeting with filtering company vendors (see News , LJ 8/03, p. 14), the American Library Association (ALA) on July 25 issued a statement outlining its objectives regarding the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA). The statement, issued by ALA president Carla Hayden and the ALA Executive Board, acknowledged that, while ALA lost the case, the fight yielded some important benefits, given that the justices ruled the law constitutional only if the filters can be disabled upon request by adult library users.

The statement said ALA's priorities are to provide libraries with authoritative information about choices and CIPA requirements, to minimize the negative impact of CIPA on users of libraries that decide to comply with CIPA, and to continue to seek to protect the First Amendment rights of library users.

To do so, ALA will identify technological options that place a minimum burden on libraries, continue to develop and promote alternatives to filtering, and gather and make available information and research on the impact of CIPA and filtering on libraries and library users, including information and research on filtering software and evaluative information for libraries selecting and using filtering software.

At a meeting August 23 in Chicago, key member leaders were to discuss implementation of the activities and develop a more detailed plan for responding to the decision over the coming year.