ALA 2010 Midwinter Meeting: Bad News from Washington on Patriot Act
ALA 2010 Midwinter Meeting - American Library Association - Library Journal
By Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 01/18/2010
- Reauthorization imminent
- Librarians more reticent to talk than before
- Voices from administration hold sway on the Hill
As LJ reported last week, the American Library Association (ALA) is not optimistic about the mood in Washington for a library-friendly revision of the USA PATRIOT Act, which must be reauthorized by the end of February.
But the challenge, according to Lynne Bradley, director of the Office of Government Relations in the ALA’s Washington Office, goes well beyond an intransigent administration and a Congress receptive to the security focus of federal agencies.
She told an audience at a Washington Office update Saturday about a reporter who wanted assistance from the ALA in reaching librarians who’d fought for Patriot Act revisions.
“When it came to this reporter interviewing people, there were so many colleagues who wouldn't talk about it,” Bradley reported, noting that those librarians said they’d have to ask permission from their superiors. “These were supposed to be personal stories, not official statements from libraries.”
Push coming
“ALA has to address how to stay true to its principles,” Bradley reflected, “but if we're not going to be successful, we have to question our strategies, our techniques. There are serious questions about how we're going to advocate in this regard.”
Leaders in Congress will be meeting Tuesday or Wednesday this week on the Patriot Act renewal. “We're going to pull out all the stops to really push for grassroots pressure,” Bradley said, adding that “unfortunately, a lot of this is behind the scenes, with positions locked in very stiffly.”
“If you want good news, you're going to have to be louder and stronger and have much sharper elbows,” she said. “Some of these folks need to be held accountable,” she said of legislators once more receptive to the ALA’s concerns.
Legislators swayed
Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the Washington Office, later elaborated to LJ that, in conversations with legislators, they typically acknowledge from the start that privacy is important and we need to have a better balance of protection vs. privacy rights.
“Then the FBI or Justice Department or CIA swoop in and hold secret closed-door meetings--and people who supported us walk out and say, ‘I can't say anything I just heard but we have to do what they want,’” she reported.
“Well, this is a democracy, and we've seen in the past that when sunlight is shown on these issues, they have to back down,” Sheketoff observed. “Every time a library has gone to court over an NSL [National Security Letter], when the judge actually sees the facts, they side with us. It's very discouraging. We're hopeful that, in the House, Congressman [John] Conyers [D-MI] sticks to his guns and isn't intimidated by the FBI or Justice Department.” Conyers chairs the House Judiciary Committee.
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