Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Libraries seek to alter Patriot Act

The American Library Association pushes to reseal records opened by the post 9/11 law.

By DONG-PHUONG NGUYEN
Published February 18, 2005

TAMPA - Reading about terrorists and bomb-making?

The FBI may want to know.

The Patriot Act, adopted after 9/11, gives the agency easier access to once-protected library records.

Under the law, the government doesn't need proof that you're a terrorist or suspected of any crime to search library records, officials with the American Library Association said.

With the statute up for review at the end of this year, the ALA's office for Intellectual Freedom is renewing its push to restore the privacy of bookstore and library records.

Judith Krug, director of the ALA's office for Intellectual Freedom, has been traveling the country, gathering signatures to urge a change in the law.

"It's nobody's business but yours what you read," Krug told a group of librarians and civil liberty proponents during an appearance at the Stetson Law Center in Tampa Thursday. "FBI agents can come to the library and invade our circulation records."

The Patriot Act also puts a gag order on booksellers and librarians, making it illegal to reveal that records have been searched, Krug said.

Because of the gag order, nobody knows how many times the FBI has raided library records nationwide, she said.

Krug told the librarians to be aware of the law and to call a lawyer immediately if an agent should appear with a search warrant.

For the past 30 years, the general practice of libraries is to expunge its records once a book is returned.

"We have always attempted to keep the record of who's taking out what private and confidential," she said. "Now it's just a little bit more difficult."

Officials running the campaign for reader privacy have collected more than 250,000 signatures, but have promised members of Congress they will collect 1-million, Krug said.

She urged those at the conference Thursday to circulate the petition.

She said that the University of Illinois' graduate research center conducted a survey recently that found that 85 libraries have probably been approached.

"We don't know where these are and we can't check them because the information came back anonymously because of the gag order," she said.

Also, her office has a legal defense fund for the library community. Its lawyers so far have received three telephone calls from librarians.

One librarian wanted free legal advice unrelated to libraries, she said, getting chuckles.

The concerns of the other two callers remain confidential.

"Our records are not to be used in fishing expeditions," she said.

[Last modified February 18, 2005, 00:13:08]