When I walk through the periodicals sections of the library, I don't usually stop to pick up a magazine. Maybe I'm just too busy, or maybe the covers are too boring. But sometime last semester, the headline "FBI Begins Visiting Libraries" jumped out at me. It was put in the context of President Bush's speech in which he demonstrated the "need" to attack Iraq. As it turns out, while the White House seems especially reluctant to cough up some of the "undeniable evidence" that requires military action, the Justice Department under John Ashcroft seems to have no problem gathering information on us.

The Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom reported in its September issue that, under "an obscure provision of the USA PATRIOT Act," the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been visiting libraries around the country and "checking the reading records of people they suspect to be terrorists." The article quoted the American Library Association's Washington Office Director Emily Sheketoff as saying, "It is going to be very hard for this to be tested in the courts" because librarians "can't tell anybody [and] the person whose records have been requested doesn't know." Even more worrisome is the fact that the librarians do not get to know the nature of the warrant—the warrant the FBI needs must not list the reason for its issue, merely that the FBI has the right to cart away what it needs.

The article went on to detail the procedure by which the FBI can access a patron's library records: "First, the FBI must obtain a search warrant from a court that meets in secret to hear the agency's case. The FBI must show it has reason to suspect that a person is involved with a terrorist or a terrorist plot—far less difficult than meeting the tougher legal standards of probable cause required for traditional search warrants. With the warrant, FBI investigators can visit a library and gain immediate access to the records. Bookstores can also have their records searched by the FBI." I then began to wonder if the FBI had come around knocking at Macalester's door. Fortunately, the answer turned out to be no.

According to a library staff member, who asked that their name not be revealed, public libraries have been feeling the effects of the USA PATRIOT Act much more than private libraries or consortiums. They added that Macalester and its consortium do not keep patrol records about library materials after the materials have been returned. Even so, the College of St. Catherine decided recently to change their procedures concerning patron information.

Apparently, this issue has been rocking the library world—underneath the noses of students and patrons. At least 85 libraries have been visited so far, according to a survey of 1,500 public libraries by the University of Illinois. Although 48 states, Minnesota among them, have laws protecting the confidentiality of library patron records, the USA PATRIOT Act overrules those laws. Because of this the American Library Association distributed a set of guidelines for libraries, available on their website (www.ala.org), in case FBI agents come to visit.

Included are recommendations such as, "avoid creating unnecessary records," "designate the person or persons who will be responsible for handling law enforcement requests," "review the library's confidentiality policy and state confidentiality law with library counsel," "train all library staff, including volunteers, on the library's procedure for handling law enforcement requests," and "a court order may require the removal of a computer workstation or other computer storage device from the library."

Libraries around the country have been consulting lawyers, training staff and preparing for their computers to be removed. I was pretty taken aback by all this. I kept thinking, "COINTELPRO? McCarthyism?" After September 11th, with all the negative publicity about military tribunals and kangaroo courts, it seemed that the Ashcroft-led Justice Department had shied away from some of the more Orwellian aspects of the USA PATRIOT Act, choosing instead to try suspected terrorists in civilian courts of law. There are still hundreds of unnamed immigrants being held on INS violation and there are still hundreds of prisoners of war imprisoned in Cuba. It was only when I realized that I too was in danger of losing my civil liberties, that I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. As Russ Feingold, the only Senator to vote against the USA PATRIOT Act, said, "Being able to borrow books from a public library without fear of government snooping is a basic First Amendment right." Not anymore.