I saw Supriya Wronkiewicz this weekend, and she told me she had recently written a paper for San Jose State library school titled, The USA PATRIOT Act: What Librarians Should Know to Protect the Privacy and Confidentiality of Their Patrons - available here. If other students have papers on library law issues - let me know and I'll point to them.
While I'm here, in case you haven't seen it, Charles Doyle updated his CRS Report, Libraries and the USA PATRIOT ACT on July 6, 2005, and has written two very helpful summaries on the dueling versions by the House and the Senate to reauthorize the expiring provisions. Go to opencrs.com and search on "Patriot Act"
Also check out Lee Strickland's latest at ASIS&T Bulletin, The USA Patriot Act Redux: Should We Reauthorize or Repudiate the Post-9/11 Authorities? Lee teaches at University of Maryland library school, and only recently left a 30 year career with the CIA. For more background, see his 2004 law review article, Patriot in the Library, coauthored with Tomas Lipinski and me.
For Wronkiewicz abstract ...
Six weeks after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Congress passed the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism, or USA PATRIOT Act. As a result, the library community is in a tense position as guardians of intellectual freedom. In order for libraries to protect the rights of their patrons, library staff needs to know exactly what the act is and its repercussions on their institutions. This paper discusses how libraries are affected by the USA PATRIOT Act, especially Section 215, actions being taken in response to this Act, and what library staffs can do to protect themselves and their patrons’ privacy and confidentiality while staying within the confines of the law.
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