Victory for Free Speech
A kind reader has been in touch to confirm that South Lanarkshire Council has indeed lifted the 'block' on access to the Action 4 Equality Scotland blog site - from Council libraries.
Now this has to go down as a victory for freedom of speech because only a few days ago the Council was insisting that individual service users would have to make their own requests - which would then be 'considered'.
But the Council has decided to do the sensible thing, perhaps because it didn't relish defending this policy to a wider audience - including CILIP (formerly the Libraries Association) and the Carnegie Foundation.
In any event I'm very pleased that library users in South Lanarkshire are now able to access the Action 4 Equality Scotland blog site - without these petty minded and bureaucratic restrictions.
The good news is that I'm planning to write a book about the fight for equal pay in Scotland - and I hope I can now count on the library service in South Lanarkshire Council to be among the first to order a copy.
I have been in correspondence with the chief executive of South Lanarkshire Council - Lindsay Freeland - in recent days over internet access to the Action 4 Equality Scotland (A4ES) blog site.
Now I could never see any valid reason for blocking or restricting access to the A4ES blog in the Council's various public libraries - some of which are famous 'Carnegie Libraries', of course, established with the help of the great Scottish philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie.
So, I asked South Lanarkshire to change its current policy and live up to the famous words inscribed on the world's first Carnegie Library in Dunfermline -'Let there be light' - as far as access to the A4ES is concerned at least.
And I'm pleased to announce that South Lanarkshire appears to have had a major re-think on the issue - because the block on the A4ES blog site is in the process of being removed, or so I've just been told.
Although I'd be grateful for confirmation from one of the blog site's many readers in that part of the world - just to make sure the Council lives up to its word, if you know what I mean.
Dear Mr Freeland
A4ES Blog Site
Thank you for your letter dated 3 September 2013.
In my view the policy that is being operated by South Lanarkshire Council is outdated and completely unreasonable because 'blogs' are an everyday feature of public life these days. The BBC has hundreds of blogs on its web site, for example. Many national newspapers (UK and Scottish) have regular and guest blogs, from both new and well-known writers, and even local newspapers in South Lanarkshire have their own Facebook page.
So, I would ask South Lanarkshire Council to remove the current block on the A4ES blog site without delay, as I believe this to be an unjustified restriction on people's right to access public information freely, without let or hindrance, including, for example, comment and analysis on the Council's recent unsuccessful FOI appeal to the UK Supreme Court.
To my mind the Council's current policy does amount to censorship and I believe it is unacceptable that public money should be used in this way.
I hope you will agree to my request because there is nothing on the A4ES blog to object to - on the part of any reasonable person or organisation at least.
If the Council is not prepared to agree to my request my next port of call will be the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals(CILIP - formerly the Libraries Association) and the Carnegie Foundation which, I understand, is based in New York.
I look forward to your reply.
Mark Irvine
Subject: RE: A4ES Blog Site
Dear Mr Irvine,
I refer to your email of 29 August 2013 regarding the above and your subsequent email of 3 September 2013, and write to clarify the matter.
The Council’s published standard for responses to all enquiries, including emails, is 10 working days and this response meets that standard.
I can assure you that the Action 4 Equality Scotland blog site has not been placed on a restricted list or “singled out for treatment”. In fact, the default position of our computer systems, operating through RM Safety Net Plus, is that all blogs and social media sites are blocked. I understand that is common across many local authorities and other public sector organisations, though the degree of filtering varies depending on the system used.
However, if a library user makes a request for a particular blog or social media site to be unblocked, that will be considered.
When a site is currently blocked, a message appears on screen which reads “this site is filtered”, together with a contact link to make an enquiry about it. Requests to unblock are considered by our library service IT section. Decisions are taken on the suitability of allowing access to the site based on visual content, language etc.
I am not aware of any request to unblock the Action 4 Equality Scotland blog by any library user. I can assure you that if any request was made to unblock the site, it would be unblocked.
I trust the above information clarifies the matter.
Yours sincerely,
Lindsay Freeland
Chief Executive
Dear Mr Freeland
A4ES Blog Site
I have been contacted by a number of people living in the South Lanarkshire Council area who visit and read the Action 4 Equality Scotland (A4ES) blog site on a regular basis.
I am told by these individuals that they cannot access the blog site via South Lanarkshire Council's Libraries Service because the A4ES site seems to have been placed on a restricted list which is very strange since the site can be accessed in the normal way, via an internet connection, and without any restriction from people's homes and other non-Council premises.
So, there appears to have been some kind of 'block' placed on the blog site either from within South Lanarkshire Council or perhaps, more specifically, from within the Libraries Service which I find rather disturbing because it suggests that someone within the Council is interfering with people's right to freely access public information, as well as my own right to freedom of speech.
South Lanarkshire has two famous 'Carnegie Libraries' within the Council's boundaries, in Rutherglen and Hamilton, which were founded with the support of the great Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and the first Carnegie Library in the world, in Dunfermline, has the inspiring words 'Let there be light' inscribed at the entrance to the building.
Carnegie Libraries were established for the purpose of supporting education, encouraging enquiry and broadening people's around the world, but these high ideals are hardly consistent with restricting access to the A4ES blog site even though I may, from time to time, have some critical things to say about South Lanarkshire Council.
Because I am not alone, as you know, with the UK Supreme Court having some very harsh words for the Council recently in relation to Freedom of Information, and so I am sure you will understand my concern that the A4ES blog site appears to have been singled out for such treatment which looks, to me, very much like heavy-handed censorship.
As the Head of the Paid Service in South Lanarkshire Council, I would be grateful if you could investigate the matter and report back to me, as a matter of urgency.
Kind regards
Mark Irvine
