For further information, e-mail Leigh S. Estabrook.

A year after the passage of the USA Patriot Act of October 2001, the nation's librarians find themselves sharply divided over how to protect their patrons' privacy, despite an apparent drop in the number of queries from law enforcement agencies, according to a recent survey by the Library Research Center at the University of Illinois. Asked whether they cooperated with law enforcement requests for voluntary cooperation in providing for information about patrons' reading habits and Internet preferences, the staff at 219 libraries said they did, while staff members at 225 other libraries said they did not. The survey was mailed in October 2002 to directors of 1,505 of the 5,094 U.S. public libraries serving populations of over 5,000. This report provides estimates of the situation in  those 5,094 libraries, based on the 906 responses( 60.2% of those sampled).

The survey did not find librarians eager to change their existing policies on access to library materials and the Internet. Only one in ten (9.7%) say they have changed patron Internet use policies. Only 66 libraries (1.3%) have voluntarily withdrawn materials that might be used to assist terrorists. Although 60 percent of public libraries have instructed their staff or library boards about the provisions of the USA Patriot Act and/or what to do if a search warrant or subpoena is served on the library, fewer than one in ten reports having adopted or changed policies in response to the passage of the act.

The USA Patriot Act of October 2001 and subsequent directives from Attorney General John Ashcroft have expanded the powers of federal law enforcement agencies. It is now easier for these agencies to obtain information about business records, including those of bookstores and libraries, and to monitor public meetings. Records of who has borrowed certain books or used public access computers (and for what purpose) are considered business records, although most libraries expunge information about what someone has borrowed once it is returned.

In the year after the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, Federal and local law enforcement officials visited at least 545 (10.7%) libraries to ask for these records. Of these, 178 libraries (3.5%) received visits from the FBI. The number of libraries queried fell significantly below the 703 libraries reporting such requests the year before the terrorist events. The actual number questioned in the past year may, however, be larger, because the USA Patriot Act makes it illegal for persons or institutions to disclose that a search warrant has been served. A warning about these secrecy provisions on the LRC questionnaire may have served, in some cases, as a deterrent to candid answers. Fifteen libraries acknowledged there were questions they did not answer because they were legally prohibited from doing so. (It is important to note not all of these requests relate to suspected terrorist activities)

The American Library Association is only one of many groups that have widely discussed provisions of the act, including its secrecy provisions. ALA Council, in January 2002, passed a Resolution Reaffirming the Principles of Intellectual Freedom in the Aftermath of Terrorist Attacks that includes a provision reaffirming fundamental principles of the profession encouraging "libraries and their staff to protect the privacy and confidentiality of the people's lawful use of the library, its equipment, and its resources." Almost 60 percent (59.9%) of librarians responding to the Library Research Center Poll stated they thought the secrecy provision is an abridgement of First Amendment rights. One in five (21.7%) librarians feels strongly enough that they state they probably or definitely would challenge a court order regarding information about a patron by disclosing a request that ordered non-disclosure.

Nonetheless, national attention to and fears about terrorism have created significant tensions among librarians. While many remain deeply committed to professional principles regarding freedom of expression and freedom to read, others believe that it may be necessary to compromise some of those principles to deter terrorism or abide by the law. As one respondent noted, "Staff are trying to process their responsibilities as citizens in potential conflict with their responsibilities as employees of a public library."

Almost 70 percent (69.1) of public libraries have instructed staff or library boards about library policies regarding patron privacy. Librarians at 362 (7.1%) libraries report that patrons have expressed concern about their privacy rights under the USA Patriot Act, and those concerns may be valid. In response to the events of September 11, 2001, some staff members in 922 libraries believe there are circumstances in which it would be necessary to compromise the privacy of patron records. In 433 of the libraries (8.5%) staff are more likely to monitor materials people are checking out. In 209 of the libraries (4.1%), library staff have voluntarily reported patron records or behaviors to authorities in relation to terrorism. In 423 libraries (8.3%), patrons have reported concern about the behavior of another patron in relation to suspected terrorist activities. Nearly two-thirds (64.3%) of these reports were made to library staff while one-third (32.6%) were reported to outside authorities.

The questionnaire asked librarians for their views as citizens in 7 questions identical to those asked of the American Public by the Pew Internet Project report entitled One year later: September 11 and the Internet . Librarians were significantly more likely than the American public in general to support the public right to know. When asked, "Do you think the U.S. government should remove information from its websites that might potentially help terrorists, even if the American public has a right to know," 67 percent of the respondents to the Pew study said yes, compared to only 35.3 percent of the librarians answering the LRC questionnaire. Only 22 percent of librarians said removing information from web sites hinders terrorists compared to 41 percent of the public surveyed by Pew.

At its annual midwinter meeting later this month the American Library Association Committee on Legislation and the Intellectual Freedom Committee will consider a resolution on the USA Patriot Act on January 26. The resolution opposes the use of governmental power to suppress the free and open exchange of recorded knowledge and information; and urges Congress to oversee implementation of the USA PATRIOT Act, and the Homeland Security Act, the FBI Guidelines, and other pertinent policies, including holding hearings to determine the extent of the surveillance on library users.

The Library Research Center (LRC) of the University of Illinois in 2002 conducted a national survey of public libraries, to understand better issues of privacy and civil liberties in libraries one year after the terrorist activities of September 11, 2001. The sample of 1,505 libraries was chosen to compensate for survey non-response known to arise from several sources (i.e., refusal of libraries to participate in the study; incomplete or unusable questionnaires; responses received after the deadline for returns). The LRC sought to obtain a rate of response of at least 60 percent (or 903 completed questionnaires) to achieve adequate precision for whole-universe estimates, as well as for sub-group analyses. Based on the size of the survey sample (906), whole-universe estimates based on this survey have a maximum sampling error (95 percent confidence limits) of +/- 3.0 percent.

To maximize the precision of survey estimates, the LRC mailed questionnaires to all U.S. public libraries serving populations of 100,000 or more, and to a statistically random sample of libraries serving populations of between 5,000 and 99,999. The universe listing (sampling frame) for the survey was the FY 2000 Federal-State Cooperative System (FSCS) annual directory published by the National Center for Education Statistics. Within that universe file the LRC identified 489 public libraries serving populations of 100,000 or more and 4,605 serving populations of between 5,000 and 99,999 (a total of 5094 public libraries serving over 5,000 individuals). Together these libraries serve more than 96 percent of the U.S. population.

From these the LRC targeted a sample of 1,011 (i.e., 1,500 - 489) cases. The sub-universe of 4,605 was sorted in ascending order by size of population served; a systematic selection of every fourth case was made throughout the list, from a randomly chosen starting point (between 1 and 4), yielding 1,151 cases. Re-applying the same procedure, every 9th case was then systematically deleted (starting with a randomly chosen number between 1 and 9 inclusive) yielding a total sample for the study of 1,505 public libraries. The result is a proportionately stratified sample, except for taking all libraries serving a population of 100,000 or more. This design is ideal for multiple purpose library surveys in which both percentages and numerical variables are being estimated.

LRC staff developed and pretested the survey instrument. They mailed the initial questionnaire on October 14, 2002. After one follow-up mailing to all libraries that had not responded and a second follow up to those libraries serving populations of 100,000 or more, the LRC closed the survey on January 7, 2003. Nine hundred eleven libraries completed a questionnaire. Of those, two libraries returned questionnaires after the deadline, two were incomplete or one was from an ineligible respondent (library systems headquarter). As a result, the LRC analyzed nine hundred six usable returns, or 60.2% of the libraries originally sampled. The returns by size of population served by the library were 66.5% of libraries serving over 100,000; 57.1% of libraries serving 10,000 to 99,999 people; and 57.5% of libraries serving under 10,000.

Staff of the LRC who worked on this study include Leigh Estabrook, Edward Lakner, Lidan Luo and Anita Michel.