An important alert that appeared in my email this weekend.

"Dear Librarians,

We would like each of you to be aware of House Bill 1727 which is being proposed for legislation in the State House. HB 1727 would mandate that all public access Internet computers be filtered for children, teens and adults. This bill would also require filters on all library staff computers as well. As you can imagine, the ramifications of this bill to libraries, librarians, and patrons would be totally unreasonable and will affect library usage across the state of Illinois.

The concerns about House Bill 1727 are twofold. We truly believe that library boards are cognizant of their individual community's needs. Libraries have a good understanding of their clients and it should be up to the individual library boards to decide what kind of service their community desires.

This proposed bill is also considered bad law in that even libraries that already offer filtering or will, in good faith, try to comply with this law will be subject to lawsuits, fines, and criminal prosecution. The restrictions set forth on librarians to sign oaths and suffer criminal prosecution for perjury are disturbing. No one is able to determine what could offend any individual at any time. Giving patrons the right to sue us for what they perceive to be obscene is unreasonable. This bill stipulates $100 a day fines for non-compliance and the cost in attorney fees would be staggering. Libraries cannot afford this and would be forced to deny Internet access to their patrons. Additionally, the stipulation that anyone under 21 must be accompanied by an adult 21 or older to use an unfiltered computer is ill-conceived. We ask eighteen-year-olds to vote and serve in Iraq for their country but won't allow them the freedom to search the Internet.

We hope you can see the ramifications of this bill to libraries and to the people who need their local library for Internet access. Please contact your local representative immediately to voice your concern over this bill.

You may search for your officials through the following website:
www.elections.il.gov/districtlocator.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions, or check the ILA website.

Thank you,
The Librarians at the Orland Park Public Library"