Free Range Librarian

I took a stab at some of the ownership costs in my PLA Technote (I’ll spare you the ludicrous URL–just Google up “Plain Facts About Internet Filtering Software”), with the understanding I was just scratching the surface in the broadest sense.

I can’t see why the TCO of filtering isn’t at least loosely quantifiable at the library level. You have to know at leat roughly what your costs are. Seth, in terms of labor, add in not just the systems costs (and let’s not forget the costs associated with selecting and implementing a filter) but the indirect costs associated with developing, implementing, and maintaining disabling mechanisms. The Technote comments that one library even wrote its own browser–not exactly peanuts. If you’re filtering with any lucidity, you’re spending money to do it.

The software is probably the cheapest part of it by a long shot.

Very nice article, Karen. I see that the TCO areas you suggest appear quantifiable for the most part, and it would make sense for libraries to address these in making decisions about filtering.

When I wrote my previous comment, I had in mind more-difficult-to-quantify costs that extend from the encroachment on the value of open information. Some of these are somewhat quantifiable (how many work-hours do librarians put in helping patrons turn off filters?), others (what is the cost of blocking access to information patrons have every right to view?) are more difficult to measure.

Ultimately I think both these approaches are important, but tactically distinct. And I think the readily-quantifiable TCOs you describe would be more immediately relevant to libraries considering system implementation and more readily understandable to policy makers.