Mark Y. Herring

Mark Y. Herring contends in the following viewpoint that libraries must install filtering devices on their computers due to the ease with which children can now access pornography on the Internet and become prey to online child molesters. Librarians have always made decisions about what to hold in their libraries, he maintains, and should not be concerned about blocking access to obscene materials. Pornography, he adds, has never been protected by the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech. Mark Y. Herring is dean of library services at Winthrop University in South Carolina.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to Herring, how does the American Library Association define intellectual freedom?
2. How did the Miller v. California case modify the Roth restrictions regarding obscenity, according to the author?
3. According to the author, what...