UW-Milwaukee School of Information Studies professors Dr. Nadine Kozak and Dr. Michael Zimmer have received funding from the UW-Milwaukee “Research Growth Initiative” internal grant program to launch a new research project called: “Assessing the Implementation of CIPA-Mandated Internet Filtering in U.S. Public Libraries.”

From the project abstract:

Access to information is an essential human right and ensuring universal access to the internet has been recognized as a vital ingredient for fulfilling this human right. While libraries have emerged as a critical source of providing free internet access within the United States, legislation has threatened free and unfettered access to information online. The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) mandates libraries filter internet access in certain circumstances. While many studies have assessed the efficacy of internet filters, we propose a large-scale investigation of how libraries are implementing CIPA-mandated filtering – along with the legal exception to remove the filters for adults on-demand – to better understand the impact of CIPA “as applied” within library settings.

The project will be housed at the UW-Milwaukee Center for Information Policy Research and will run from July 2017 through December 2018.