Patriot Act affects libraries, patrons

Librarians are nervous about the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act.

To help librarians better… Librarians are nervous about the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act.

To help librarians better understand their obligations to their patrons, Pitt’s University Library System and School of Information Science sponsored a summit on Thursday.

The U.S.A. PATRIOT Act’s name is an acronym for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism. What that means for libraries is that law enforcement officials can obtain the library records of anyone that they suspect of being involved with terrorism.

Pennsylvania’s privacy law states that circulation records “shall be confidential and shall not be made available to anyone except by a court order in a criminal proceeding.”

Carrie Gardner, an instructor in the School of Library and Information at Mansfield University, said that the PATRIOT Act makes it easier for law enforcement officials to get court orders.

“Before the PATRIOT Act, you were innocent until proven guilty. Now they only need to say we think he’s involved,” Gardner said.

Mary Minow, an attorney and specialist in library law who has been researching the PATRIOT Act since 2001, made her presentation at the summit live from San Jose State University. She emphasized that “the bottom line is that courts should still determine whether patron records should be disclosed.” She also outlined the steps library administrators should take to protect their patrons’ rights.

Susan Webreck Alman, coordinator of professional development in the School of Information Sciences, said that students will probably not see the effects, but they will be there.

“We wonder whether we should tell students the ramifications of the act, because the effects will probably not be obvious,” Alman said. “It’s business as usual for most people.”

Thomas Twiss, government information librarian at Hillman Library, said libraries need to be aware of the ramifications of the PATRIOT Act.

“We need to look at the impact this has in terms of doing open inquiry in a university setting,” Twiss said.

Gardner echoed his sentiments, saying that many librarians were worried that people would stop doing research from fear of being watched.

“Anyone who visits the Al-Jazeera Web site to see what their coverage of the war in Iraq is like compared to CNN could be watched by the government,” Gardner said.

Law enforcement officials can also request the book records of library patrons.

“They can come into the library now and say ‘We want to look at the records of anyone who checked out a book on Saddam Hussein.’ Everything [a patron] accesses can be requested by and given to the government,” Gardner said.