Mr. Del Bianco, Members of the MCLU Board, Ladies and Gentlemen…

On behalf of all the members on the Maine Library Association, I would like to express our profound gratitude for being named this year’s recipient of the Roger Baldwin Award. We are honored that the MCLU should think our efforts in opposing the Children’s Internet Protection Act would have been approved by the man who was not only a founder but also long considered by many "the moving spirit of the American Civil Liberties Union."

It was suggested to me that you might like to hear a few words about why the MLA decided to become involved in this suit against the Federal Government. In the world as we knew it prior to Sept. 11^th, I would have answered that request with comments on the particulars of the case. I would have related our argument that the inherent limitations of filtering software block protected speech. I would have spoken of our conviction that these same limitations undercut the government’s argument of compelling interest. Or, that the law is too broad in its scope. Or, that it fails to define process and/or criteria regarding the discretionary power of librarians to turn off the filters. Any or all of these would have been my text.

But, on 9/11, things changed: not the world (as many have put forward) but, our understanding of it. There has been what our culture has lately termed a paradigm shift. The world that many of us believed in perished with the World Trade Center towers. And, now we struggle to achieve a new understanding of the world that encompasses realities we did not know to be true scarcely a month ago.

And so today, I wish instead to frame my remarks by quoting a comment made by Roger Baldwin when reflecting on his life’s work. He observed, "I would say that social work began in my mind in the Unitarian Church when I was ten or twelve years old, and I started to do things that I thought would help other people."

Undoubtedly, there are a number of themes that could be extracted from Mr. Baldwin’s musings (especially by a distinguished body of lawyers…) but I would like to raise two which I think germane: first, our actions in this world – in so far as we act with integrity and courage -- are extensions of our beliefs; and, second, our beliefs – whatever they may be -- are established early in life.

These two theses are central, in my understanding, to why we in the Maine Library Association have chosen to oppose CHIPA.

I would contend that at the core of every librarian’s being is the belief that "knowing and knowledge" are not just valuable but essential. Moreover, the ability to seek "to know" is not only an inalienable right, as Thomas Jefferson might have said, but a veritable survival trait of the human race. Furthermore, librarians firmly believe that it is as children that people learn not only the quintessential value of knowledge but also the fundamental skills of how to acquire it.

When all is said and done, CHIPA – however, well intentioned – must inevitably erode the right of adults to acquire knowledge. And, in a paradoxical way, it not only undermines a child’s opportunities to grow in knowledge acquisition skills but also sends a subliminal message that there are some things too dangerous to know. These are lessons that are inimical to the core beliefs of the library profession!

No filtering software on the market can replace human judgement: that must be learned and exercised. And, when it comes to the sexual health of our populace, a little bit of knowledge is not just a dangerous thing, as the old dictum would have it; it can be deadly! We could not stand idly by and take no action unless we were willing to change our view of the world. This we found unacceptable.

This does not mean that we who work in Public Libraries do not have to change how we practice our trade. We must and shall. I have been asked, "What it is like on the front lines?" I’ll tell you. Everyday, we are faced with new questions of how we are to best assist our users in navigating the torrent of information; to aid our patrons in their efforts to acquire knowledge or to sample a new and/or different vision of the world in some author’s writing.

There is a line of dialogue in the movie "Shadowlands" (a film biography of C. S. Lewis) which I think speaks to the human thirst for knowledge. It runs something like, "We read to know that we are not alone."

This is the challenge that our patrons face everyday as they seek to find their way through this world. And, we librarians are faced with an ever-growing problem of how to guide our patrons - adult and juvenile - to material that is timely, accurate and age appropriate.

Despite the accusations of our detractors, it is inconceivable that any librarian would ever knowingly abet a child in viewing pornography; we seek to guide a young person to sources that provide useful information at age appropriate levels. We don’t take children of 5 who ask how the universe works to the works of Stephen Hawking; nor, do we bring the 13-year old who asks how their body is changing to the Penthouse Forum.

In the wake of the acts of terrorism that shook our nation, there are numerous voices calling out to amend our nation’s laws in the name of security. The job of librarians will be to assist people in answering questions that seek to increase our knowledge of the world. Who are our enemies? Why are they really attacking us? What will enhance our safety; what is a chimera that will devour our freedom and give no real security in return?

The job of lawyers will be to continue to argue for justice and to continue to bring rational analysis to the political and judicial debate that must happen before we surrender the freedoms that make this nation strong and unique. For, as I understand the legal profession, your core belief deals with valuing Order over Chaos and the Rule of Law (rational and dispassionate) over Revenge and Hysteria.

In her tribute titled "The Underdog's Best Friend," Margorie M. Bitker said that until his death Roger Baldwin remained "a pacifist, the only label, by the way, that he is willing to wear." Bitker quoted him as affirming, "The rule of law in place of force, always basic to my thinking, now takes on a new relevance in a world where, if war is to go, only law can replace it."

These are words that speak to us today. Perhaps the words of a prophet, as Reinhold Niebuhr or Paul Tillich would have understood that term. Thank you for placing us in the company of such a man by naming us worthy of receiving the Roger Baldwin Award this year.

Thank you.