content is relatively small.  Recent estimates indicate that no more than 1 2% of the

content on the Web is pornographic or sexually explicit.  However, the absolute number

of Web sites offering free sexually explicit material is extremely large, approximately

100,000 sites.  

D. American Public Libraries 

The more than 9,000 public libraries in the United States are typically funded (at

least in large part) by state or local governments.  They are frequently overseen by a

board of directors that is either elected or is appointed by an elected official or a body of

elected officials.  We heard testimony from librarians and library board members working

in eight public library systems in different communities across the country, some of

whom are also plaintiffs in this case.  They hailed from the following library systems:

Fort Vancouver, Washington; Fulton County, Indiana; Greenville, South Carolina; a

regional consortium of libraries centered in Madison, Wisconsin; Multnomah County,

Oregon; Norfolk, Virginia; Tacoma, Washington; and Westerville, Ohio.  The parties also

took depositions from several other librarians and library board members who did not

testify during the trial, and submitted a number of other documents regarding individual

libraries' policies.

1.  The Mission of Public Libraries, and Their Reference and Collection Development

Practices

American public libraries operate in a wide variety of communities, and it is not

surprising that they do not all view their mission identically.  Nor are their practices

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