LISNews: Librarian News

Robert Teeter sent over A librarian\'s dilemma from The San Francisco Chronicle.
The editorial talks about the bind in which many librarians find themselves: As citizens, they have a clear interest in helping law enforcement track down terrorists. As librarians, a basic principle of their creed is to protect their patrons\' privacy.

\"Librarians are left in this difficult position because the surveillance powers of the Patriot Act were cast so broadly. Our founders understood the value of open access to knowledge. One of the measures of a great democracy is the ability of ordinary citizens to explore ideas without government interference, a value the librarians are trying to balance against the government\'s need to search for terrorists. \"

As you can see, Blake recently created a new category for articles related to the USAPATRIOT act. Currently, the icon is this interesting little wavy flag, but he and I were talking about some other possibilities. If you have any images that you think would embody the spirit of the act, link to it in a comment to this article (use the &ltimg src=\"\"&gt tag). Images should be croppable or scaleable to 50x50 pixels and in the public domain.

Greg writes \"The FBI is still at it, as described in this story from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.\"

They say an FBI agent walked into the Carpenter branch of the St. Louis Public Library, asking to see sign-up sheets that detailed the names of patrons who used library computers on Dec. 28 and walked out with the records later that day, with no subpoena or court order.
The request was prompted by a tip from a library patron who had used one of the branch\'s 16 Internet-accessible computers on the same day and at the same time as another patron, who was of Middle Eastern descent.

Tim passed along This Wired Story we missed on librarians\' response to law enforcement requests for patrons\' records in the year following the passage of the Patriot Act.
They talk about This Survey [PDF] done by The Library Research Center at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign that found in the year following the Sept. 11 attacks, federal and local law enforcement agents visited at least 545 libraries to inquire after patrons\' records.
When asked to voluntarily forfeit patrons\' records, roughly half the librarians cooperated with investigators without demanding a subpoena or court order, the study found.