Current+Issue+Research+Paper

The following paper details my stance regarding Internet filters and censorship. While I believe that filtering software can be a useful tool in protecting children from undesirable images not protected under the First Amendment, I also found that filters are often used to block content of academic significance and suppress learning opportunities. (See below for search documentation.)



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__Search Records__
Below are the documents containing my search records. I developed my topic after reading the Sept/Oct 2010 issue of AASL's //Knowledge Quest// in which Doug Johnson raised the question, "What about intellectual freedom //online//?" In my initial searches, I found myself locked into using only Boolean logic even though I was well aware of the benefits using truncation and quotation marks. I also forgot to have EBSCO search multiple databases at once. Had I utilized these options, my search process would have been more efficient and completed in less queries. I mainly used EBSCO's Academic Search Premier since I usually find more success in having access to articles without having to use Article Linker or wait on an inter-library loan. I did find one useful article from //Teacher-Librarian// in GALE's Expanded Academic ASAP; however this article was written in 2001 and was not as current as I would have liked. My last search query was my most successful, but only yielded a few articles that I had not already received from my previous searches. I completed it after having received a review on search strategies in the administration class. I once again used Boolean terms, but I also used truncation to search for various forms of words and used quotation marks to ensure that multiple word concepts were kept together. While this search broadened the number of results produced, it also gave me articles of greater relevancy to my topic.


 * Search 1: 2 January 2011 at 10:20 am** (In reflecting on my initial search process, searches 1-4, I recognize that I should have used "//school internet filters//" instead of //school filters//. The concept //school filters// is rather vague and does not necessarily apply to internet filters as the search results show.)
 * Search 2: 2 January 2011 at 10:22 am**
 * Search 3: 2 January 2011 at 10:35 am**
 * Search 4: 2 January 2011 at 10:45 am**
 * Search 5: 4 January 2011 at 1:17 pm** (I used the terms //censorship, filters,// and //libraries// to look for articles containing information pertaining to libraries in general that engage in censorship via Internet filters.)
 * Search 6: 4 January 2011 at 7:15 pm**
 * Search 7: 5 January 2011 at 1:00 pm** (I searched the //School Library Journal// website to see if the print publication might have any useful articles. The articles I found contained information regarding the //Franks vs. Metropolitan Board of Education// case. The articles contained information that I already had from the //Knowledge Quest// article, so I chose not to use them.)
 * Search 8: 21 January 2011 at 5:11 pm** (After reviewing search strategies, I used Boolean operators with truncation and quotation marks to perform more accurate search. I used //"school filters" OR "Internet filters"// //AND censor*// to look for articles containing anything about schools using Internet filters with any form of the word //censorship.//)
 * Search 9: 21 January 2011 at 5:45 pm**