Friday, October 08, 2004
Library Records
Mary Minow, author of The Library's Legal Answer Book, has correctly pointed out that the discussion of government recordkeeping in my book does not include anything on library records.
Library records include your identifying information, your history of books checked out as well as interlibrary loan requests, reserve requests and any searches that you ask the librarian to make for you.
Now, librarians believe in the value of information and take great pride in their willingness to protect our right in a free society to have free access to it. Part of that includes a fierce desire to restrict monitoring of what information you and I might find interesting. Before 1978, librarians had only that desire to back them up when the lawyers and cops came asking. Since 1978, just about every state has put something on the books with some kind of regulation of how and who can see library records.
It is, however, a complicated subject. In some states, only registration and circulation information is protected. In some states, only libraries receiving government money are affected. In some states, librarians have a right to protect records but can still divulge them if they deem it fit.
And, as Minow points out, in most states records of overdue books are not protected at all.
Library records include your identifying information, your history of books checked out as well as interlibrary loan requests, reserve requests and any searches that you ask the librarian to make for you.
Now, librarians believe in the value of information and take great pride in their willingness to protect our right in a free society to have free access to it. Part of that includes a fierce desire to restrict monitoring of what information you and I might find interesting. Before 1978, librarians had only that desire to back them up when the lawyers and cops came asking. Since 1978, just about every state has put something on the books with some kind of regulation of how and who can see library records.
It is, however, a complicated subject. In some states, only registration and circulation information is protected. In some states, only libraries receiving government money are affected. In some states, librarians have a right to protect records but can still divulge them if they deem it fit.
And, as Minow points out, in most states records of overdue books are not protected at all.
# posted by AmandaWelsh @ 1:27 PM 
