Canadian Library Association / Association canadienne des
bibliothèques Position Statement on Statement on Internet
Access
Approved by
Executive Council ~ November 8, 1997; Revised February
2000
This statement is intended to be considered in tandem with both
the CLA
Statement on Intellectual Freedom (1985)
and the CLA
Statement on Information and Telecommunication Access Principles
(1994). The principles enunciated in those statements apply to
issues of intellectual freedom and public access to the Internet in
libraries and provide guidance in this area.
In
addition, CLA encourages libraries:
- To offer
Internet access with the fewest possible restrictions,
- To
familiarize themselves, their governing bodies and their communities
with the legal issues surrounding the provision of Internet access and
to integrate such legal reference points into their access
policies,
- To
incorporate Internet use principles into overall policies on access to
library resources, including time, place, and manner restrictions on
Internet use, and user behaviour policies and to publicize these
policies widely and post them prominently in library facilities and on
electronic media,
- To
safeguard the long-standing relationship of trust between libraries and
children, their parents and guardians, in developing Internet use
policies and practices, acknowledging the rights and responsibilities of
parents and guardians,
- To
create library web pages consistent with resource priorities that point
to appropriately reviewed sites both for general use and for use by
children,
- To
educate their publics about intellectual freedom principles and the
shared responsibility of public and school libraries, parents, and
guardians in facilitating access to resources in various forms of media,
including the Internet, and
- To
assume active leadership in community awareness of, and dialogue on, the
issues inherent in the informed use of this essential, yet non-selective
and unregulated medium in libraries.
