NADIA WHITE Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Friday, July 4, 2003 12:00 am
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
With this quote from Benjamin Franklin as prologue, the American Library Association adopted in 2002 a "resolution reaffirming the principles of intellectual freedom in the aftermath of terrorist attacks."
While dozens of Wyoming soldiers, sailors and marines continue to serve the nation in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, librarians across the state take seriously the role they play in ensuring a most basic American liberty: the right to know.
"One of the reasons librarians in general do their jobs is to promote the idea of the freedom to read and think," said Bill Nelson, director of the Natrona County Public Library. "Our society is based on an informed public. The day we cease to be informed, either consciously or unconsciously, is the day I think our culture will be in jeopardy," he said.
Two recent shifts have caused some librarians and other knowledge watchdogs to be on alert.
The passage of the USA Patriot Act aggressively broadened the federal authorities' powers in fighting terrorism after the attacks of Sept. 11. A small part of the huge law allows the FBI to issue secret warrants to compel libraries to produce circulation records, Internet use records and registration information stored in any medium.
More recently, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a federal law requiring libraries that receive federal funding for computer services to use software intended to prevent children from viewing pornography.
Librarians weigh carefully these types of restrictions to information. Librarians in Santa Cruz, Calif., shredded volumes of reader information, the Associated Press reported. They passed out flyers warning, "The U.S.A. Patriot Act makes it illegal for libraries to tell you if our computers are monitored. Be aware!"
The Justice Department explained that libraries are covered in the new law only because some terrorists involved in the 9-11 attacks used library computers to plot their attacks.
Lucie Osborn, longtime Laramie County librarian, said reacting to these laws is a balancing act.
"We're all concerned about terrorism and we don't want to do something foolish with respect to terrorism but I don't think we can let terrorism make us give up our freedom and our liberties and our access to information. That gets to be a very serious situation," Osborn said.
"You look at the basic principles of our government and how our country has succeeded over time to become the great nation that it is. I think having access to information, being able to think critically about issues, being able to not hide our heads in the sand but go out and gather the information we need to make smart decisions, these liberties are fundamentally important."
The Natrona County Library Board decided not to accept federal money for its Internet offerings and so is not affected by the Supreme Court's decision. The $700 to $1,000 the library would have gotten would not cover the internet filters necessary to comply with the act, Nelson said in an earlier interview.
The Laramie County Library Board will consider such options at its August meeting, Osborn said.
"My gut level thought is that it's going to cost us more long term and initially to filter and that's not what we want to do philosophically," she said.
Nelson said he does not expect the Patriot Act provisions to come into play in his libraries.
"We've had no issues, in fact I don't even foresee (having) an issue, to be honest with you," Nelson said. "I just don't see it as a big deal … We've always been under similar circumstances where if we get a court order to do something, we will comply. I don't foresee that as being an issue and that's been the case all along."
Wyoming Homeland Security Director Joe Moore said his office won't have anything to do with scaring readers off of libraries. "That's a law enforcement issue," he said. "That'd be up to the FBI."
Osborn said librarians are dedicated to removing barriers to information, legal, psychological or physical.
Illiteracy is among the largest barriers that prevent people from learning what they need to know, Osborn said. Other challenges include handicapped access, fear of technology that may keep some people out of the library, and helping non-English speakers access information, she said. Another formidable challenge, she said, are tight budget cuts which makes it more difficult to stock new materials or hire professional staff.
"We've worked so hard to make people feel comfortable in the library … to make people understand that we're here to serve them, we're here to help them get what they need," Osborn said. "We've tried to knock down any barrier that people have, including the idea that we know everything … we try to let people know there's no such thing as a dumb question."