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April 14, 2008
If You Heart Your Privacy, Thank a Librarian
The librarian at my high school reportedly locked herself in the library to keep a group of parents from getting in and confiscating “Slaughterhouse 5.” I have no idea how true that story was. The book hadn’t been taught for some time, we could see stacks of it sitting in the English office, and when those of us who read it independently asked why it wasn’t taught, we were told the school board had ordered it off the curriculum thanks to the protests of some parents.
Either way, I took the story as true at the time and it gave me the beginnings of an appreciation for how librarians can end up out front on civil liberties issues. Here’s a brief piece on how they’re involved in privacy issues in the age of PATRIOT:
“Librarians will go a long way to defend the privacy of their patrons’ reading habits. How far will you go to defend the privacy of your customers’ information and your employees’ personal data?
“In 2003, the chief librarian of the city of Santa Cruz, Calif., was able to warn her patrons about whether the FBI had served a National Security Letter (NSL) demanding information about who was reading what books. She managed that task despite specific provisions in the USA Patriot Act at the time that prohibited librarians or booksellers from revealing to anyone that they’d been issued an NSL.
“So, how did the librarian get the word out? By regularly reporting to the library board that no NSL had been issued to any of the city’s 10 branches, which was perfectly legal. Everyone knew that if the chief librarian failed to report that nothing had happened, then indeed an NSL had been served.”
(Link)
Posted by mhall at 8:46 PM | Add Comment
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