What if a library board is asked to use movie, video game, music or other ratings to restrict access?
A variety of private organizations including the Classification and Rating Administration (CARA) of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association, PSVratings Standards Board (PSV), Parents Television Council (PTC), Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board, and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) have developed rating systems as a means of advising parents concerning their opinions of the contents and suitability or appropriate age for use of certain books, films, recordings, television programs, Web sites, or other materials. None of these organizations are government agencies and as such their rating systems cannot be mandated or enforced by any government or agency of government, including a publicly funded library. A library can, however, make information concerning these rating systems available to library users. For more information on this topic see Deborah Caldwell-St
