It Pays to Question Authority

Last week, before I left for my weekend away at home in Durham, I was here at the New Hanover County library and found that I was unable to access the Equality NC political action committee's website from the terminals here. I reported the censorship in my blog and also called E-NC to report it to them. They contacted me and had me ask the reference desk library about the blocked site, especially since one of the items blocked was the icon that allows the reporting of anti-GLBT discrimination through their site (I had been able to weasel my way in eventually, but not through a Google search. Then I was unable to use the "report anti-GLBT discrimination" and the "contact" icons on the site.)

I spoke with the reference desk and gave them the URL of E-NC's website and am happy to report today that I was able to access the site and all of its subpages.

I have been provided information about the use of Federal funds by libraries and will research how that might have contributed to this issue of inadvertent censorship. In the meantime, if you try to access anything in a pubic library in the US and find your access blocked, question why. It may be an error that you can help correct.

Categories: censorship Equality+NC LGBTQ