No FBI Today?

Librarians are amazing people. Next time you are in a library, make a point of being extra-special nice to your librarians--they know things you will never be able to fathom, and they secretly fight some of the biggest battles for your freedoms.

The jackbooted thugs in office must've taken this into account when they wrote the USA PATRIOT Act, because when they wrote the part about FBI agents being able to access your library records on the flimsiest of excuses, they imposed a "gag order" that made it illegal for a librarian to tell you, or anyone else, that your records had been requested, or even that the FBI had paid a call at all. S/he can't even tell a lawyer under the terms of the Act as originally passed (the director of my local public library tells me it is her understanding that the regulations have been changed to allow a librarian to speak with a lawyer, but she isn't completely sure).

So what's a librarian to do? On the one hand, the ALA code of ethics, and most state's laws, require absolute confidentiality with respect to a patron's library usage. It's a free speech thing--what good is it to say you can say or write anything you want if other people are not free to listen to or read anything they want? On the other hand, the law is all too crystal clear--open your mouth, go to jail. In a perfect world, librarians would all be willing to go to jail to defend your liberties (and you'd still pr'y poke fun at them behind their backs, you ungrateful cur!) but we live in the real, messy world where librarians have families, children, and responsibilities, and not all of them are able to live up to your lofty ideals.

But librarians are far from rolling over in this matter. Two recent articles, one in CounterPunch , "Librarians as FBI Extension Agents" and one in Slingshot, "Hey, There's a Federal Agent In My Book!", point out, librarians are finding creative ways to fight back and to expose the USA PATRIOT Act for what it is. While the USA PATRIOT Act expressly forbids librarians from saying when the Feds have paid a visit, it does not forbid them from saying when the Feds haven't popped by. So librarians all over the country are hanging signs saying "The FBI has not visited this library today". If that sign's down, you know to tread softly; if you have reason to believe the Feds are snooping on you, better lay low for a while. I'd feel bad giving this advice to known terrorists, but let's face it: given a) the ineptness of the FBI these days, and b) the over-zealous broadness with which they are casting their nets, it is much more likely that they're spying on you because you gave $20 to an organization that has ended up on the list of suspected terrorist organizations, or because you protested outside the Department of Justice, or because you wrote an article much like this one, than because you have anything remotely to do with terrorism.

Do yourself a favor: if you use your local public library, do what I did--fire off an e-mail to the director or head librarian or whoever on their website's "Contact Us" page looks like a likely candidate and ask them how things are going. Find out what your library's policy is and how you can take part. Or just let them know that you support them. I got a real nice e-mail back, and an invitation to drop in and introduce myself next time I'm in the library.

And maybe next time an author like Michael Moore needs the librarians of the world to unite and get his book published, the good ones will be able to fight the good fight, instead of rotting away in jail.

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