One of the hottest topics in the news these days is the Patriot Act and personal privacy. While the Act covers many areas of the governments fight on terrorism our November DACS meeting will concentrate on one of its specific areas, what people do at the library. What they read or search for, or access at the library.

The specific case being discussed involves Library Connection, Incorporated and the FBI’s request for information on “all subscriber information, billing information and access logs of any person” who used a specific computer at a particular library branch.

This should be a fascinating discussion that will be of interest to all DACS members and the general public.

This issue and the discussion members are listed below:

In July 2005, the FBI presented George Christian, Executive Director of Library Connection, Inc., with a National Security Letter (NSL)—which the FBI was authorized to do under Section 505 of the USA PATRIOT Act.

The NSL directed Christian to surrender “all subscriber information, billing information and access logs of any person” who used a specific computer at a particular library branch.

George and the three member Executive Committee of the board engaged the ACLU to file suit to challenge the constitutional validity of the NSL. Because Section 505, which authorizes the FBI to demand records without prior court approval, also forbids, or “gags,” anyone who receives an NSL from telling anyone else about receiving it, they also challenged the validity of the gag order.

For almost a year, the ACLU fought to lift the gag order, challenging the government’s power under Section 505 to silence four citizens who wished to contribute to public debate on the PATRIOT Act. In May 2006, the government finally gave up its legal battle to maintain the gag order. Their lawsuit was remanded back to the lower courts for a decision on the merits. On June 26, 2006, the ACLU announced that, after dropping its defense of the gag provision accompanying the NSL request, the FBI abandoned the lawsuit entirely.

George Christian

George Christian has been the Executive Director of Library Connection since its corporate reorganization in 2003. It is a nonprofit consortium of one academic library and 26 public libraries. It manages a common computer system for its member libraries that contains 3.5 million items. The system enables member libraries to manage over 270,000 registered patrons and process 7.6 million circulations a year. At the time it received a National Security Letter, Library Connection also provided telecommunications services for more than half of its members. In addition, Christian is a trustee of a $3 million trust fund dedicated to the support of a branch of the Trumbull, CT, public library. He served on the Trumbull Library Board for six years. He has been a member of the branch advisory board for 12 years, and is currently its president.

Barbara Bailey

Barbara Bailey is the current Secretary of Library Connection (formerly President and Executive Board Member). She is President of the Connecticut Library Association and a member of ALA and the New England Library Association (NELA). Bailey has been a librarian for 30 years and is currently the Director of the Welles-Turner Memorial Library in Glastonbury, CT. She earned her M.L.S. from the University of Rhode Island, in Kingston.

Peter Chase

Peter Chase is the current President of Library Connection. For 25 years, he has been the Director of the Plainville Public Library, in Plainville, CT. In addition, he is the Chair of the Intellectual Freedom Committee of the Connecticut Library Association. He earned his M.L.S. from the University of Pittsburgh.

Alice Knapp

Alice Knapp is the immediate past president of the Connecticut Library Association and spoke on behalf of “John Doe” while the gag ordered was imposed. She is the Director of Public Services at The Ferguson Library in Stamford, CT. Previously, she was Director of the Bethel Public Library. She earned her M.L.S. from SUNY Albany.

DACS meetings adhere to the following format. Activities begin at 6:30 p.m. with registration and casual networking. The meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. with a general question and answer period (Ask DACS) and a discussion of what’s new in technology followed by a short break. The featured evening presentation begins at 8:00.

As a reminder, our General Meetings are free and open to the public so invite anyone you know who would be interested in this topic.

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