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23 LLNE News: Newsl. L. Librarians New Eng. 1 (2003-2004)

handle is hein.lbr/llnews0023 and id is 1 raw text is: _ __ _Newsletter of the Law Librarians of New England Volume 23, Number 1, 2003 SAFEGUARDING OUR PATRONS' PRIVACY: What Every Librarian Needs To Know About The USA-PATRIOT Act & Related Anti-Terrorism Issues A Satellite Teleconference Cosponsored by: AALL, ALA, ARL, MLA and SLA, Wednesday, December 11, 2002, Held at Suffolk Law School By John Pedini, Social Law Library Well, first off, USA-PATRIOT Act is not just a clever name for a bill, but an even cleverer acronym: Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (and you thought legislators didn't have a sense of humor). Given this title, as well as the newly christened Department of Homeland Security, freedom lovers can begin to feel an air of cold-war creepiness settling in. For a nation still reeling from the worst attack on its native soil since Gettysburg, however, measures are sure to come that will hope to keep the world's super-duper power from getting caught with its pants down again. Fine for national defense, but bad news for personal privacy. Patrons and professionals alike suffer under this bill. Foreign students and non-citizens might as well pack it in and go back to where they came from. Or is it all in our minds? In the interest of keeping up with the sweeping initiatives and policies, the American Association of Law Libraries, along with many other similar organizations, sponsored a teleconference on the subject back in December, which was locally hosted by Suffolk Law School. Even with 81 people in attendance, the facilities at Suffolk were quite adequate. The crack media services staff had at the ready the satellite feed, projector and screen, as well as a FAX machine in the room for questions to the panel. A stream of area university librarians as well as members of ABLL and LLNE came through the door and found a place to sit and have their lunch, with soft drinks and goodies courtesy of coordinator and host Betsy McKenzie. After a brief introduction and matters of recognition by Betsy, the program began. A woman looking much like a television anchor appeared on the screen, the picture and sound coming through perfectly. She spoke clearly and unerringly, obviously well prepared. No casual presentation was this. She introduced the subject, then the panel, and mentioned that attendees at their remote locations could FAX in questions to the panel. Overall, the production quality and appearance of the participants was very impressive thus far. All that remained was the quality of the content itself. With a roomful of librarians eating their lunch in the dark, it had better be gangbusters. Well, it was. The panel attacked the subject with a measured but intense level of scrutiny and insight. They addressed not only the basic issues presented by the Act, but also challenged its constitutionality. They demonstrated a tremendous amount of preparation in their arguments and, in one segment, two panelists displayed a sense of shared knowledge and unity of mind and purpose that made you proud of being an information professional. The panelists ended the program by providing suggestions for libraries to best prepare for and defend against the more encompassing aspects of the legislation. First speaker Thomas Susman of Ropes & Gray set the scene, enumerating and briefly expanding upon the elements of the Act. Without needless dramatics, he described how the bill was essentially rushed into passing (by the phenomenal margin of 98-1), with only a single day of hearings before the vote. Generally, it has been considered to represent a wish list of law enforcement. Most of Safeguarding Continued on Page 5

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