Personal Voices: A Hysterical Librarian

By Kim Antieau, AlterNet. Posted February 13, 2004.

I am a librarian in a medium-sized public library in Washington state. I have always loved the subversive nature of public libraries. Without paying a dime, king and hobo mingle and obtain information on anything and everything. I saw public libraries as havens, places where we protected the rights of all citizens to have free access to information without interference from the government.

I'm not saying libraries are safe places. They aren't now, and they never have been. They are filled with all kinds of revolutionary – and wrong – information. Everyone can find something in a public library to offend and outrage them. At the same time, it was a unique public space where people could get information and view it at their leisure without anyone keeping track of what they were viewing, researching, or reading. That was before the Patriot Act, of course.

While not necessary the flashiest advocates, library workers stand at the forefront of the fight to protect our intellectual freedoms. Librarians live by the Library Bill of Rights, adopted by the American Library Association in 1948, a set of seven statements affirming that all libraries are "forums for information and ideas."

This Bill of Rights states the revolutionary idea that "materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval."

The most subversive statement, the one which makes my heart pitter patter with pride, says that "libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas." In other words, it is our duty as librarians and library workers to resist government interference in our duties.

In 1958, the ALA went further and adopted the Freedom to Read Statement. It says, among other things, that "what people read is deeply important; that ideas can be dangerous; but that the suppression of ideas is fatal to a democratic society. Freedom itself is a dangerous way of life, but it is ours."

Isn't that cool? I loved working for an institution that upheld the Bill of Right, plus wrote its own! Every single day at the library we were protecting the rights of citizens to get the information they needed or wanted. And we were part of the government. That filled me with joy.

We also have a Code of Ethics which says we will "protect each library user's right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received, and materials consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted." Our interactions with patrons and what they read are considered private transactions, and we protect these transactions by not divulging what the patron is reading – to anyone. Unless, of course, we are handed a search warrant or subpoena.

John Ashcroft had other ideas, however. Section 215: Access to Records Under Foreign Intelligence Security Act (FISA) and Section 216 of the Patriot Act allow the FBI to obtain warrants (without probable cause) to search library records. The Patriot Act overrides any state laws protecting patron confidentiality.

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