Patriot Act Renewal Process Extended Until the End of February

Go back to the Academic Newswirefor more storiesDueling versions in House and SenateALA disappointed with bothWill keep pressure on but fears climate may have changedDespite some library-friendly changes last fall in one version of the More...

ALA: Senate Judiciary Committee Did Not Achieve Balance on Patriot Act

The Senate Judiciary Committee has weakened proposed reforms in the reauthorization of the USA PATRIOT ACT, as LJ reported, and the American Library Association is not pleased. A letter published in the October 18 Washington More...

Vancouver PL Cancels Program By Assisted Suicide Organization

Director's decision; advised by counsel, policeCivil Liberties Assoc. to plead case at board meetingVPL was only public venue on tourThe Vancouver Public Library (VPL), BC, has cancelled a workshop organized by Exit International, an Australian-based More...

Obama Administration Aims To Continue USA PATRIOT Act Provisions

Concerns addressed in letter to Senator LeahyJustice Department says library records not abusedLibrary groups begin to respondSenators plan their own billOver the objections of the American Library Association (ALA) and groups representing booksellers, publishers, and More...

ALA, Allied Organizations Ask Congress To Revise Patriot Act

Urge library and bookstore records to be exempted from Section 215Obama administration position unclearLaw must be revised this yearGo back to the Academic Newswire for more storiesIn an effort to steer the Congressional debate, the More...

Topeka Library Board Restricts Access to Four Books on Sex

Vote, 5-3,goes against director's recommendationLawsuit possibleMixed public reactionIn a 5-3 vote that contradicted the recommendation of thelibrary director, Gina Millsap,and has drawn warnings of a lawsuit, the board of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public More...

Publishers Once Again Seek Federal Law To Fight 'Libel Tourism';

Publishers renew battleHouse bill passed last year not good enoughProtections needed for publishers in Internet ageGo back to the Academic Newswire for more storiesThe Association of American Publishers (AAP) last week urged Congress to once More...

Lawsuit Settled After OhioLibrary Bars Group Wishing To Hold Bible-Related Session

Couple wanted to hold Bible-based financial seminarLibrary nowprohibits all outside groupsDispute went to court rather than through library channelsAfter a local couple planned to hold a free financial planning seminar based on Biblical principles, the More...

Patriot Act's National Security Letter Gag Provisions Ruled Unconstitutional

ACLU: ruling a "major" victoryCase at heart still gagged by FBIRuling affirms 2004 verdictGo back to the Academic Newswire for more storiesA federal appeals court this week upheld a decision striking down the so-called 'gag More...

U.S Archivist Allen Weinstein Will Step Down, Cites Health Reasons

Will step down December 19Deputy Archivist Adrienne Thomas to serve on interim basisWeinstein earned good reviewsGo back to the Academic Newswire for more storiesIn a move that largely caught librarians and archivists by surprise this More...

LJ Talks to Wasilla Public Library Director KJ (Kathy) Martin-Albright

See LJ's complete Sarah Palin andLibraries coverage.There's been a lot in the news about the Wasilla Public Library, AK,circa 1996, when then-mayor Sarah Palin, now the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate,asked then-library director Mary Jane Emmons (now More...

FBI Serves Warrant After Frederick County PL Surrenders PCs in Anthrax Case

FBI confirms scientist Ivins used library computersAgency seeks suicide letters, plan to kill witnessesFBI won't comment on delay in seeking warrantsThough the director of the Frederick County Public Libraries (FCPL), MD, last week acceded to More...

MD PL Director Accedes to FBI Computer Seizure; Possible Anthrax Link

FBI took two computers; library says they were not linked to patron recordsDirector would typically request warrant, but says he was convinced by FBIInvestigation may be linked to anthrax suicide case[See Aug. 8 update.] In More...

Internet Archive Fights Off National Security Letter

Lawsuit challenged constitutionality of National Security LettersAlso said libraries shouldn't be subject to NSLsFBI settled without resolving underlying issueThe Internet Archive-a vast collection of web sites and other born-digital files, including the Wayback Machine-may be More...

Venezuelan National Library Battles "Imperialism" of Library of Congress

Calls LC enemy of librariesFCL sees parallels with CubaLC says it is "antithesis of imperialism"Has historian Fernando Báez, director of Venezuela's National Library, declared war on the Library of Congress (LC), as the Friends of More...

After Child Porn Incident, Tulare County Librarian Says Policy Change Coming

Library will spell out policy re child porn'Miscommunication'; between staffer & supervisorInvestigation pendingTulare County Librarian(Visalia, CA) Brian Lewis can't say much about the controversy that's flared up in the last three weeks, in which a More...

Tulare County Supervisors Back Library in Firing of Probationary Staffer

"Legitimate business reasons" citedPrevious performance evaluation solidIndependent review comingDespite a probationary library assistant's contention that the loss of her job was connected to an unauthorized report to police that a library patron was looking at More...

Was Probationary Tulare County Staffer Fired for Reporting Child Porn?

Staffer defied supervisorCounty claims miscommunicationChild porn should always be reportedA newly hired library assistant still on six-month probation who went around official channels to report a man viewing child pornographyto the police has been fired, More...

Contentious Crowd in Vancouver for Author Claiming U.S. 'Under Israeli Occupation';

80 people hear Freedom to Read Week presentationLibrary defends 'open debate';Critics raise question of library standardsThe presentation Monday night at the Vancouver Public Library (VPL), BC,by controversial author Greg Felton, called anti-Semitic by critics, drew More...

Internet Porn Statistics at Dallas Central Library Prompt City Concern

7.5% of Internet traffic is pornographyStatistics seem higher than in previous analysesCity Council to examine issue next month A local newspaper's analysis of web pages accessed at the Dallas Public Library's central library showed that More...

Terror Suspect's Lawyer Says FBI Tracked Library Use Without Warrant

A library angle has emerged in the case of a terrorism suspect indicted in July 2006 (along with a confederate) on charges of going through paramilitary training in Georgia and plotting to attack various targets More...

New Legislation Introduced To Limit NSL Abuses

A bipartisan group of senators has introduced legislation aimed at tightening the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) use of the National Security Letters (NSLs), administrative subpoenas issued with no judicial oversight, deployed under the USA More...

ALA Hails Judge's Decision on National Security Letter Gag Order

The American Library Association (ALA) applauded a decision by a federal judge in New York, who ruled that the gag order associated with National Security Letters (NSLs)-even though it was relaxed somewhat upon the revision More...

Monroe Cty. Adopts Tough Net Policy

In response to a threat from Monroe County executive Maggie Brooks, the Monroe County Library System board, NY, last month agreed to make its Internet filter policy more restrictive, setting up a potential legal challenge. More...

VTLS Partners With VCOM for Digital Medical Library

VTLS has joined forces with the Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) to create a digital library supporting "the teaching, scholarship, and research in osteopathic medicine." The digital library project, called OSTMED.DR is More...

NYU Libraries Establish Academic Freedom Center

New York University NYU has established the Frederic Ewen Academic Center within its Division of Libraries to sponsor scholarly research and public programs about intellectual freedom. The center resides in NYU's Tamiment Library, an archive More...

Basic Instinct Questioned at Arkansas PL

Calling the unrated director’s cut of Basic Instinct “pornography,” a patron of the Rogers Public Library, AR, has called for the film to be withdrawn from the collection. For now, pending a decision in November, More...

NARA Unveils New Safeguards

It looks like government intelligence and security agencies have been a little too eager to remove declassified documents from public access areas. Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein says an audit found that at More...

Some in Congress Seek To Expand CIPA To Block MySpace, Blogs, More

Either it’s fear of predators who meet teens on MySpace, or perhaps just a political move, but some Republicans in Congress want to expand the Children's Internet Protection Act, which requires schools and libraries receiving More...

Controversy at OSU-Mansfield

Two faculty members filed charges of sexual harassment against an Ohio State University–Mansfield (OSUM) librarian, contending that his defense of a controversial book they consider hateful and homophobic created a hostile workplace environment. The charges More...

Legislative Tunnel Vision

The hot-button issue of immigration has driven legislators and citizens in Denver to criticize harshly the library's provision of services and books in Spanish. Now Rep. David Schultheis (R-Colorado Springs) wants to take the crusade More...

Book Recommendation Quandary

Dear LJ:Our public library tries to cooperate with public and private schools and preschools in our community. We don't have any policies governing how we select books on the variety of specific subjects requested by More...

CoLAPL Increases Net Filtering

The County of Los Angeles Public Library (CoLAPL), directed by the Board of Supervisors to better block access to pornography, will spend $344,000 allotted by the county: $237,000 for 445 new computer monitors, about $75,000 More...

ALA Votes to Oppose "Academic Bill of Rights"

During the recent American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting in San Antonio, the ALA Council, with three councilors in opposition, voted to oppose the "Academic Bill of Rights" (ABOR) by the Center for the Study More...

RFID Debate: PLA Calls IFC's Privacy Guidelines Too Restrictive

At the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting in San Antonio, an open hearing concerned proposed "Guidelines for Implementing RFID Technologies in Libraries: Privacy and Intellectual Freedom Concerns." But the proposal from ALA's Intellectual Freedom More...

IF Award Goes to CT’s “John Doe”

The 2005 Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award, which was to be presented at the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting January 21 in San Antonio, went to an unidentified recipient: “John Doe” of the More...

Student’s ILL Claim Crumbles

An unnamed student at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth said in late December that he was visited by federal agents after requesting the “Peking” edition of Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung’s Little Red Book through More...

Don't be Evil? Google to Censor in China, Will Appear Before Congress

Google, despite a "Don't be Evil" model, last week said it would censor its search and news materials according to Chinese government standards. "Google.cn will comply with local Chinese laws and regulations," reads a Google More...

Broward Library Reschedules Film

South Florida’s political wars have caught up with the Broward County Library, Fort Lauderdale. After protests from right-wingers about scheduling The Motorcycle Diaries, a film about Cuban guerrilla leader Che Guevara, during Hispanic Heritage Month, More...

Rhode Island PLs Fix Filtering

The statewide library consortium in Rhode Island has responded to a report critical of Internet overblocking by revising its policies, but the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Rhode Island is still worried that some More...

“Free Speech Zone” at NYPL

Artists Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese transformed the entrance of New York Public Library's Donnell Library Center this September (which included Banned Books Week) with two sets of illuminated triptychs, each with backlit portraits of More...

Is the FBI Spying on ALA?

The American Library Association's (ALA) public opposition to the USA PATRIOT Act has its Executive Board concerned that, just maybe, the FBI is keeping tabs on the organization. In a September 8 conference call, the More...

Partial Victory in Patriot Act Case

A federal judge ruled on September 9 in favor of the anonymous Connecticut library challenging a USA PATRIOT Act gag order (see News, LJ 9/15/05, p. 17ff.) but stayed the decision so the federal government More...

Is the FBI Spying on ALA? FOIA Request Aims to Find Out

The American Library Association’s (ALA) public opposition to the USA PATRIOT Act has Executive Board concerned that, just maybe, the Federal Bureau Investigation is keeping tabs on the organization. In a September 8 conference call, More...

Oklahoma City Commission Limits Certain Minors’ Books

After a close 10–7 vote, the Metropolitan Library Commission, Oklahoma City, overruled the recommendations of library staff and decided to set up a special collection of children’s books, including those with gay themes, which only More...

Judge Hears ACLU’s Patriot Act Challenge

In a Bridgeport, CT, courtroom last week, U.S. Judge Janet C. Hall heard the ACLU’s challenge to lift the gag order regarding a request for records from a Connecticut library. ACLU, on behalf of its More...

ACLU Sues to Lift Gag on Connecticut Library

The American Civil Liberties Union has sued to lift the gag on a Connecticut library under investigation by the FBI, which has used a section of the USA PATRIOT Act to demand records. The ACLU More...

After Complaints, Denver PL Pulls Four Series of Fotonovelas

In response to complaints about nudity, sexual content, and violence against women., the Denver Public Library has announced it will cancel subscriptions to four of 14 series of fotonovelas, Spanish-language adult comic books. The library More...

FL Commissioners Segregate Books

Last year, after receiving complaints about a sexually explicit novel, Marion County, FL, commissioners voted 3–2 to maintain the Marion County Public Library Advisory Board (see News, LJ 6/15/04, p. 20ff.). This year, however, they More...

Florida County Bans "Gay Pride"

In an action that spawned national criticism, including censure from the American Library Association (see p. 43) and the Florida Library Association (FLA), the Hillsborough County Commission voted 5-1 to ban the county government from More...

Muslim Student at Australian University Questioned Over Library Books

A Muslim student at Monash University (Melbourne, Australia) told the press he was questioned by federal police over books he had bought and borrowed from the university library. The student told The Age that an More...

VA Library Moves Painting After Patrons Complain

An oil painting that included a partly-clothed figure, on display for two weeks near the main entrance of the Chesapeake Public Library System, VA, has been moved after patrons complained it was inappropriate for children. More...

14 Phoenix Public Library Users Banned for Porn

In Phoenix, where city officials adopted a legally questionable policy to require all computers at city libraries to be filtered, 14 patrons have been banned for various times for violating the "no pornography" policy. According More...

FL County Commissioners Assume Powers over Book Selection

Last year, after receiving complaints about a sexually explicit novel, Marion County, FL, commissioners voted 3–2 to maintain the Marion County Public Library Advisory Board. Now, however, they have dissolved the board and, according to More...

Behind the Sanders Amendment: An Internet Exception

Many in the library world missed a crucial element in the House of Representatives’ passage of the “Freedom to Read” amendment by Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to scale back the USA PATRIOT Act. While the More...

Groups Challenge Utah Net Law

A coalition of bookstores, web sites, Internet service providers, and organizations, including the Freedom to Read Foundation, have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a Utah law meant to restrict children’s access to More...

Canadian Libraries Concerned About USA PATRIOT Act

While Congress debates the USA PATRIOT Act, with input from the American Library Association, the Canadian Library Association (CLA) has issued its own concerns about the act. According to a CLA briefing, “The reach of More...

CO Library Sued After Rejecting Meeting

After a Colorado library refused use of a meeting room to a group to pray and discuss scriptural passages regarding such issues as marriage and homosexuality, the group has sued the library. The conservative group More...

Florida Library Removes Gay Pride Displays After County Ban

After display at a branch library about gay and lesbian books generated controversy, members of the Hillsborough County Commission went even farther, voting 5-1 to ban the county government from acknowledging gay pride. Further, the More...

ALA Study Reports Law Enforcement Inquiries at Libraries

How frequently have law enforcement agencies requested records from libraries? According to a new study sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA), federal, state, and local officials have made 137 formal inquiries—and additional informal inquiries—regarding More...

Gay/Lesbian Book Display Taken Down After Protests, then Truncated

After three complaints from library patrons about a display about gay and lesbian books at a branch of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System, FL, library officials ordered the display taken down. Then, according to More...

KS Board Restores ALA Language

After the board of the Johnson County Library, Overland Park, KS, dropped language from the American Library Association Library Bill of Rights from its collection development guidelines (see News, LJ 6/1/05, p. 28), the terms More...

Oklahoma Legislators Urge Limits on Kid's Books with Gay Themes

By a vote of 81–3, members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives May 9 approved a resolution asking Oklahoma libraries to "confine homosexually themed books and other age-inappropriate material to areas exclusively for adult access More...

Editorial: The Krug Contribution

Despite a few battles with her, I have always admired Judith Krug. She's been director of the American Library Association (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) since its founding in 1967. Her service to intellectual More...

Board Member’s YA Labeling Effort Fails

An effort by a trustee of the Guilderland Public Library, NY, to have sexually-explicit YA books labeled with “PG” stickers failed 7-1, after the proposal drew scorn from the community. Initially, John Daly would have More...

Consumer Reports: Internet Filters Better But Still Flawed

The latest tests by Consumer Reports (CR) of filtering software show that filters targeting the home market are now better at blocking pornography—but also tend to overblock. Additionally, CR found the software less effective at More...

Turkmenistan Library Ban Is Protested

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) has condemned the decision by Turkmenistan president Saparmurat Niazov to ban public libraries in the former Soviet republic, a situation first highlighted by the London-based Institute More...

KS Library Board Drops ALA Language

Does the American Library Association's (ALA) Library Bill of Rights prevent a library from protecting children from pornography? Worried about that possibility, the board of the Johnson County Library (JCL), Overland Park, KS, recently voted More...

Allegheny County, PA, To Require Reports of Internet Incidents

The Allegheny County Council, Pittsburgh, has approved a resolution requiring annual verification that all libraries in the Allegheny County Library Association (ACLA) comply with laws regarding Internet use, as well as an annual review of More...

IL Library To ID Patrons Via Fingerprints; State Confidentiality Law Stands

The Naperville Public Library, IL this summer will install fingerprint scanners on 130 computers that offer either public Internet access or require a time limit on usage computers—a response to many patron’s apparent use of More...

Okla. City Postpones Decision on Gay-Themed Kids’ Books; Louisiana Also Considers Limits

While the Tulsa City-County Library has moved kids’ books on gay themes to a new parenting section in the children’s room, in partial response to a legislative call to segregate the books to an adults-only More...

Oklahoma Legislators Urge Restricted Access to Kids’ Books with Gay Themes

By a vote of 81-3, members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives May 9 approved a resolution asking Oklahoma libraries to “confine homosexually themed books and other age-inappropriate material to areas exclusively for adult access More...

Porn Star Back on Houston Shelves

Jenna Jameson's How To Make Love Like a Porn Star has been returned to the shelves at the Houston Public Library, TX—at least in principle, since there's a long reserve list. In January, Houston mayor More...

ALA Begins Patriot Act Study

Researchers from Florida State University's School of Information Studies, Tallahassee, and Syracuse University's School of Information Studies, NY, working with the American Library Association (ALA), are about to query a sample of U.S. public and More...

BackTalk: Filtering Is Not the Answer

A while back, I got a glimse of the new filtered library world when a patron asked me for online information on Atlanta-area hospitals. We pulled up a list on USA/Business Reference, but we were More...

Phoenix PL Adds Internet Staff

After mandating that adults had no right to turn off Internet filters at the Phoenix Public Library (see News, LJ 10/1/04, p. 18ff.), city officials have agreed to spend $175,000 for a librarian and three More...

Judge Strikes Down Gag Order

On September 29, U.S. District judge Victor Marrero struck down a statute—enacted in 1986 and amended several times, including in Section 505 of the USA PATRIOT Act—that authorizes the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to More...

Jittery Patron in WA Calls FBI

An effort by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to gain access to someone who wrote a questionable note in a library book has apparently gone nowhere. In June, a patron of the Whatcom County More...

Bumps on the CIPA Road

After a Phoenix-area man was arrested for sexual exploitation of a minor and told police he downloaded child pornography at the Phoenix Public Library (PPL), the city council voted unanimously not to allow adults to More...

Editorial: Porn Star(s) in the Library?

Take a look at this issue's "Books Most Borrowed" from libraries nationwide (LJ Best Sellers Fiction and Nonfiction, p. 128). Maureen Dowd's recently published Bushworld appears, but you won't see another new blockbuster published at More...

More Book Challenges in TX

A citizens' group has listed 119 books—most with gay content—it would like to see moved from their current locations in the Montgomery County Memorial Library System, Conroe, TX. Individuals have filed reconsideration requests on about More...

Recalled Government Papers Prompt Librarian Protest, Then Reversal

After a government documents recall notice posted on the Government Printing Office (GPO) web site generated strong reaction from librarians, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in early August that federal depository libraries could keep More...

Patriot Act Rollback Fails

By only one vote, an effort to roll back Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act failed July 8 in the House of Representatives, after eight Republicans switched their votes. The House deadlocked, 210–210, which, More...

Court: COPA Injunction Stands

The U.S. Supreme Court on June 29 upheld a lower court's injunction blocking the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), which would fine commercial web site operators if they did not require an age verification (such More...

Part of SD Library Site Disabled

After protests about some links in the teen section of the South Dakota State Library's site (www.sdstatelibrary.com/teencenter) Gov. Mike Rounds decided July 12 to disable access to the whole section of the site, pending a More...

In FL, Debate Over PL Board

After months of wrangling over who has authority to review book selection, Marion County, FL, commissioners voted May 18 by a 3–2 margin to maintain the Marion County Public Library Advisory Board and the method More...

NextGen: Speech Wants To Be Free

Commenton this articleAs a profession, we rightly pride ourselves on valuing freedom of expression. The immediate and convenient nature of online discussion, though, hinders us from putting the same thought into our Internet conversations as More...

Selection Not Censorship

Commenton this articleLester Asheim's famous article urging "Not Censorship but Selection" (Wilson Library Bulletin, 1953) could be a blueprint for the discussion regarding Christian fiction on the electronic mailing list Fiction_L. No doubt prompted by More...

Editorial: Caution and Credibility

Comment on this editorial The most important lesson of my career was about getting into trouble with words. I learned that publishing controversial comments makes both enemies and friends. It attracts enmity and respect. It More...