FBI Has Visited About 50 Libraries

Responding to questions from the House Judiciary Committee on how it had used expanded powers under the USA Patriot Act to combat terrorism, the Justice Department acknowledged May 20 that FBI agents have contacted about 50 libraries as part of investigations.

Many of those invitations, in fact, were at the behest of librarians who had raised suspicions, Assistant Attorney General Viet Dinh told committee members, according to the New York Times.

"This is a good beginning," said Emily Sheketoff, director of the American Library Association's Washington Office. "Congress has finally forced the Department of Justice to at least admit that they're using the Patriot Act and they are engaged in activities in libraries."

Still, she said that government officials "haven't been fully forthcoming." She termed the report of some 50 libraries visited "an informal survey," noting that there had been no explanation of how much library patrons' privacy had been invaded.

A survey by the Library Research Center (LRC) at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, showed that, in the year after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, law enforcement officials visited 545 libraries. While about a third of those visits were from the FBI, it wasn't clear how many concerned terrorism—the Patriot Act makes it illegal for persons or institutions to disclose that a search warrant has been served (see News , LJ 2/15/03, p. 16).

Sheketoff says that the ALA hopes to sponsor an FBI-approved double-blind survey of librarians that would further assess the impact of the Patriot Act on libraries. "We've identified a researcher who's able to work on it," she said, noting that a first group of researchers was ordered by their university to stop working on such a study.

Sheketoff added, "I not only need to get the questions approved by the FBI but also get the methodology confirmed. They're very concerned that we not blow an investigation." Sheketoff said she hoped the survey would be approved by fall.