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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 11018
[Civil]
Date Posted:
9/16/2004
9:06:25 am EDT
Wvox Stats
Views: 10,976
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Comments: 12
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Don't Mess With Librarians
Author: Adam L. Penenberg Source: Wired
Title: DON'T MESS WITH LIBRARIANS
Jessmyn West is a 36-year-old librarian living in central Vermont. But she's not your stereotypical bespectacled research maven toiling behind a reference desk and offering expert advice on microfiche.
She's a "radical librarian" who has embraced the hacker credo that "information wants to be free." As a result, West and many of her colleagues are on the front lines in battling the USA Patriot Act, which a harried Congress passed a month after 9/11 even though most representatives hadn't even read the 300-page bill. It gave the government sweeping powers to pursue the "war on terror" but at a price: the loss of certain types of privacy we have long taken for granted.
What got many librarians' dander up was Section 215 of the law, which stipulates that government prosecutors and FBI agents can seek permission from a secret court created under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to access personal records -- everything from medical histories to reading habits.
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Community Thoughts: There are 12 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| I Love This Lady! | Sep 17th. at 4:41:59 pm EDT |
by Raven Rose (Grand Rapids, Michigan) - wc_xemail
Wow! Finally a librarian who knows our rights!! I wish some of the librarians here had her spunk or even some of the people that live here. There is a local bookstore called Schuler's Books and Music that is having people sign a petition to amend the Patriot Act. I signed and bought a t-shirt lol, but hey it's the American way, voice your dissent!!
Raven Rose
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| Ban What | Sep 16th. at 6:36:57 pm EDT |
by greywolf (new mexico) - wc_xemail
Bright blessing to this librarian she is another protecter of all of us who chose to read what we want to, not what our government choses for us. Please visit your local library and read all of the Banned books, THEY say don't read, I.E. G. Orwells "1984" about Governments invasion of privacy, only about twenty years to early.
And it harm none do as ye will
Peace and Love
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| Conan The Librarian! | Sep 16th. at 3:38:45 pm EDT |
by Owlglass (Albuquerque) - wc_xemail
Good for Jessmyn! And as a librarian (bunless, thank you) for over 15 years, I can say that the rest of us are quietly resisting also. I work on an air force base library, and if the FBI wanted to access our circulation records, they'd be told what anyone else gets told: the minute the book/magazine/tape/whatever is checked back in, the record is gone. You can't get our records because there aren't any.
Libraries and free access to information are so vital to a democracy/republic, I firmly believe you can't have one without them. Only informed people can make the necessary decisions to rule themselves.
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| Radicals | Sep 16th. at 2:15:33 pm EDT |
by Fred Lawrence (Oz, somewhere near Kansas) - wc_xemail
Most people don't think of librarians as a bunch of radicals, but they do more than anybody to spread knowledge, and keeping people ignorant is a primary tool of tyrrany. Ignorance is scary and the s***s in power, like Dubya and Ashcroft want people to be ignorant and scared.
I myself love hanging around in libraries. I'm in one now.
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| *sigh* | Sep 16th. at 1:05:23 pm EDT |
by Chatoyancy (Arlington, TX USA) - wc_xemail
Okay, I recently posted on this topic before in response to the RIFD tag article. I'm not saying that there's no possible problem and that no rights will be violated. What I want to get across is that access isn't as easy as people think and that many librarians, library employees, and library students think it's a bit "alarmist".
It's possible that things are done differently circulation-wise here in the South, and I know each seperate library has it's own internet policy. The internet is tricky and is too easy to monitor without having anything to do with the library.
I've worked almost 10 years in several different libraries, and each one had the same procedure for circulation and patron records. Lately I was curious about how much the Patrioit Act really affects us, and asked the assistant manager. Her reply is as follows: Regardless of who's demanding access and even if they do have a warrant, the issue is immediately turned over to the city attorney.
The library will not allow access until the city attorney does whatever is necessary, therefore effectively stalling for a period of time. This can give the patron in question enough time to return his/her borrowed items, thus vanishing titles from their record. I
would think that if my itty-bitty library in podunk follows this policy then others will also. We WILL protect your privacy. Unless we have express permission, we won't even tell a spouse what his/her better half has checked out--and I KNOW this is standard policy whether it's the North or South.
The last three libraries I worked for had check-out systems that erase the items off your record completely as soon as you turn them in. No running list is kept, as opposed to earlier times when it was handwritten on little cards. I have to tell people all the time that no, I can't see what books they've already read because it's been wiped off the record. The only records that DO stay are fine/late fee histories, and even then it doesn't give titles--just the date and amount paid.
The only other way titles show up on your record is if the books are overdue or were just late and you haven't paid the fine yet. So girls and boys, the moral of this story is to turn your materials in on time and promptly pay up the late fee when you don't!
From a bun-less library worker under 30
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| Polititemplation | Sep 16th. at 12:44:31 pm EDT |
by Ahr-Ohn (Bridgeport) - wc_xemail
An interesting note in History, shortly before the beginning of what we know as Ancient Times, the temple training that Arianrhod taught to girls that went on to other temples was the key to adoption of Literacy in Religious Tradition. Librarians really are akin to Witches.
But Temple Dancers are proffessionally the custodians of the accumulated wisdom of a culture so, why is the Patriot Terrorism Act trying to politicize them?
Aaron
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| Librarians Rule! | Sep 16th. at 12:38:21 pm EDT |
by Moggie Cat (Connecticut) - wc_xemail
Sitting in grad school, working on my MLS...
I know I picked the right profession!
:-)
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| Jessmyn West Rocks | Sep 16th. at 11:51:56 am EDT |
by G Williams (Seattle, WA) - wc_xemail - Web
I'm a library science student and Jessmyn West is well known in librarianship circles.
The question of privacy, especially in public libraries, is a huge one. Librarians have been on the front lines of protecting free speech for over 40 years, although earlier in the 20th century it was a different story. We're all about free access to information these days, and a good thing SOMEBODY is, no?
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| I Wonder... | Sep 16th. at 10:51:27 am EDT |
by Taenn (UK) - wc_xemail
I wonder what they think to people who access this website?! *grins*
Headline:
Pagans Protest Patriot Act
Byline:
The witches' world web supports terrorism, say fundamentalist officials.
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| Thwart Not The Librarian! | Sep 16th. at 10:48:51 am EDT |
by Taenn (Leicestershire, England) - wc_xemail
Well, here I am at the cross raods of my life: 18, about to strat a promising new career at university and do you know what? I really want to a librarian! West is my new idol!
Ok...maybe I wouldn't go as far as to say that (I'm still pretty stuck on the idea of becoming a sociolinguist, ) but you can't help being impressed at a woman with that much gall. Not only is she challenging a social stereotype but she's standing up against a sinsiter bill - no small feat when you look at the minor offences the fbi seem to be considering 'acts of terrorism' these days. She should run for president - she'd have my vote!
Seriously though, the idea that the government can do something like that terrifies me beyond words. I thought that the American had freedom of speech and thought, but how can this be when they are afraid to do things as simple as borrowing a book or accessing a website. What's next: those who rented out faranheit 9/11 (sp?) being registered as no-fly? Or the kids who read books about Islam and Abraham for their RE classes.
It's just rediculous!
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| Concern Used To Be That Johnny Can't Read | Sep 16th. at 10:27:45 am EDT |
by karrie9 (Kenosha, WI) - wc_xemail
Quote: "…a harried Congress passed a month after 9/11 even though most representatives hadn't even read the 300-page bill…"
A major concern used to be "why Johnny can't read" and now it's that our congressmen don't.
How poignant that a librarian is now serving as a guardian of those who do (read) .
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| YES!!!!! | Sep 16th. at 9:57:28 am EDT |
by Mairi (Connecticut) - wc_xemail
A new hero for our children to emulate!!!
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