Bob Cox spotted a nice Detroit News Piece on a new library shared by Clinton and Macomb MI.
Five years ago, voters in Macomb and Clinton townships made it clear they wanted a permanent library — and they were willing to pay for it.
Residents of the two northern Macomb County communities agreed to permanently raise their taxes to finance a new building and to amass a collection worthy of one of the state’s fastest growing areas.
The wait ended in October and today the Clinton-Macomb Public Library, with its high-tech amenities and inviting ambience, is quickly becoming a popular destination, even for the area’s younger residents, officials say.
Abandoning responsibility?
From the article:
“The cards even account for whether younger users need Internet filters while online.
This means parents no longer have to supervise their children while at computer terminals, allowing them to enjoy more of the library for themselves.”
While it’s great that they’ve found a system to allow for the different levels of need for filtering, filters do not solve everything, and I don’t like the way that this little tidbit (probably from the article author at that) encourages parents in the belief that they no longer have to supervise their children. Not only what their children are viewing on the computers, but they can leave their kids at a computer and then go wander around the library. Filters in no way account for your child’s physical safety. Jeesh!
PS – I am not advocating the use of filters, just that this community has decided to go with them and found a way to automatically adjust the filtering level dependent upon which patron is signing on.