MI Patron Info Fishing Expedition

mdoneil says:

Re:21 year old law student?
You don’t have to graduate from an ABA accredited law school to practice law in most states, however that is by far the most common way. However certain states allow clerking, self study, or even foreign legal education (NY is an example – it allows a foreign degree holder with a foundation in English common law to sit the exam).

However holders of ABA accredited JDs can sit the exam in every state. Then again what can you do with such a degree other than be a lawyer. How disappointing that must be.

mdoneil says:

Re:More on Flory & Associates
Since he is a law student why did you jump to the conclusion that his fishing expedition was related to his employment rather than his scholastic pursuits? Nowhere in the article does it mention that his actions were undertaken at the behest of the law firm or any of its partners. The reporter also jumped to that conclusion in her article. The teacher interviewed was concerned that the law firm was seeking that information. The story also refers to Marker’s request. The article is poorly written and lacks a clear statement of the origin of the request: Marker or the firm.

I can fathom no reason why a law firm would want a profile of library patrons. I find it remarkably hard to believe that any practicing lawyer would direct his staff to make requests prohibited by state law. I can however believe that a misguided student would make requests such as these.

I’ll grant you that the reporter failed to research her work sufficiently. However the information you provided is neither germane nor helpful. You however seem to think that since the lawyer is a Republican there is some nefarious purpose. Your comment that we should know more about the law firm’s partners “For the same reason that he seems to care about directing his law clerks to harass libraries to collect patron information,� is yet another unfounded leap you have made. There is no evidence presented in the article that Flory directed Marker’s action.

Why you felt the need to research the story further and spend 10 minutes on martindale.com by your own admission is beyond me. As librarians the public trusts us to safeguard the information they give us. It is our responsibility to answer patron queries to the best of our ability. It is improper to interrogate or investigate the patron making the request. In this case the appropriate answer is that the records are protected by law and may not be released. While I must assume you don’t work at any of the libraries involved you took it upon yourself to investigate who you thought made the request. As a librarian that offends me. Did you also use LexisNexis to find out if he has a mortgage, if he is married, where he lives, what assets he has. I can only wonder why you felt the need to do an investigation into the character, reputation and educational background of someone who would considered a patron had they made the request in person. It seems that you have let your political views cloud your professional judgment. You found it necessary to report to those that read LISNews that the alleged requestor is a Republican. Would you have reported about a UCLA grad who worked for the ACLU? You should be ashamed of yourself.

Has anyone considered that this indeed might be a student’s attempt to see if the libraries in his state actually follow the law and restrict access to patron records. Perhaps the student mislead the reporter, there is no burden on anyone to tell the truth to journalists and the journalist in this case did a remarkably poor job of presenting the facts. I wonder how many libraries simply sent the information along. Now that would be an interesting project for any student.

I have written Ms. Lee, that journalist that filed the story to clarify the law firm’s role. Should she not be responsive I will email the attorney. I am confident that the law firm will not be involved in requesting the records, but simply be where the requestor, a college student, is employed. Had he worked at McDonalds would you have listed Ray Kroc’s political affiliation and the schools he attended.

Shame on you for muckraking, shame on you for failing to remain objective.

mdoneil says:

Re:More on Flory & Associates
Damn, I can usually start an argument in an empty room.

Well, we will find out of the reporter replies to my email. Then we will know for certain if the firm or the kid was behind this nonsense.

mdoneil says:

Re:More on Flory & Associates
Being anonymous it is impossible to find any authority in what you write. You claim that the request went out on the law firm’s letterhead, yet we have only your word and frankly that is not worth much when you post anonymously.

I did not attack the reporter; I simply criticized her poor writing. I did write Ms. Lee and ask for clarification. I have had no response as of this writing. I have left a message at the law firm and I await a return call. I see no need to post a retraction, I have nothing to retract. Ms. Lee wrote the article so poorly it left readers wondering about the originator of the request. If anyone should post anything it would be the reporter who failed to clarify the issue in her article.

Even if it proves true that the student did make the request under the color of authority of the law firm the article was still unclear. Journalists have a duty to be objective and completely report the story as best they are able. This simply was not done in this case.