Read a swimsuit ad -- go to jail

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that a Saukville librarian contacted the Department of Corrections to report that a patron was using the Internet to look at pictures of models wearing hosiery and swimsuits. The patron, James Lala, was sentenced to three years for his library Internet use.

The patron was to go to trial on child pornography charges, and was already on probation after serving time on other child pornography. He was violating the terms of his probation, a condition of which was that he not go on the Internet. A key sentence in the article:

The librarian was familiar with Lala because he had been kicked out of the Saukville and Port Washington libraries numerous times after patrons complained of him viewing objectionable material.

Unfortunate, but this was the right thing to do; patron privacy doesn't extend to the right to defy the law -- even to look at a swimsuit ad. I'm surprised they even let him into the library.

Policies - doubleplusgood practices

The Duncan Banner in Duncan, OK, has a story about their public library's efforts to set a privacy policy. In these time of rapidly changing technology and federal law, privacy can be uncertain. Last week I got an email solicitation from a security firm selling a special report on the serious security and privacy threat known as "Web 2.0." Not only the USA PATRIOT Act but Library 2.0 reinforce the need to have our houses in order and our library boards standing behind us.

Thus it was interesting to read in the Duncan Banner:

Privacy is an important concept, and for Duncan Public Library, this concept could become a necessity.

At their regular meeting Tuesday, members of Duncan Public Library Board discussed the possibility of instituting a patron privacy policy. While no action was taken on the item, members talked about the importance of privacy to the library patrons.

Library Director Ann Brown said, “I noticed we didn’t have a policy in place. I don’t think we’ll ever have problems with it.”

Brown said she had been reading about privacy in libraries and thought the board might want to create a policy for the library.

“I’ve just been reading a lot of about this,” she said.

During the meeting, members looked at several library privacy policies from around the country. The policies came from places including the New Jersey Library Association, the Boston Public Library in Massachusetts, and the Appleton Public Library in Wisconsin.

Of course, all our policies are published on our website; we've several times heard from other libraries asking permission to copy or adapt our policies. While our policies are imperfect and keeping them up-to-date is an ongoing challenge, this speaks well for our staff and board, and the good effort that goes into policy maintenance.

Too much privacy ?!?

Okay, as a librarian, I've gone to the mat for privacy. I've stalked the halls of Congress, trying to educate Representatives as to why the PATRIOT act was a bad thing. I've argued with an attorney in the library of the House Judiciary Committee. I've been in a shouting match with my State Senator, when our Wisconsin legislature took away minor's rights to private library records.

But now our Wisconsin Attorney General, probably in an effort to be helpful, has declared that even librarians can't get help in enforcing our rules without a judge getting involved each and every time. In an Attorney General's opinion -- not as strong as case law, but citable as legal precedent -- we have learned that public libraries cannot get help from collection agencies to retrieve overdue library materials. Even if I know the name of someone whom we caught trying to steal library books, I can't give it to my City Attorney.

The key here is what librarians need to do in the performance of their duties, as opposed to what anyone else needs or wants to know about how third parties are using the library. How is the right to use the library compromised by being held responsible for breaking the law?

Our previous system worked well, but now it's illegal. Have I just found out how cops feel about Miranda?