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Library Records Seizure Revealed in ArizonaCity officials in Scottsdale, Arizona, have revealed that the Scottsdale Public Library shared patron records with a federal grand jury on three occasions in the spring of 2004. The library complied after receiving subpoenas from a federal grand jury relating to the ongoing investigation of the February 26, 2004, assault of city Diversity Director Don Logan and two other people who were severely injured by a mail bomb sent to Logan’s office. As of mid-July, no one has been charged in the case.According to the July 20 Mesa East Valley Tribune, postal investigators had announced in May 2004 that they believed the mail bomb was left unattended at the library’s main facility during a program six days before Logan received it. The subpoenas do not specify how many patrons’ histories the grand jury sought on March 3, March 19, and April 6, 2004. SPL Director Rita Hamilton told American Libraries that the library’s attorney had advised cooperating, because state law mandates compliance “upon receipt of a court order or as required by law.” Hamilton went on to say that the subpoenas became public knowledge more than a year after being issued when a local reporter conducted a public-records request in researching a story about the USA Patriot Act. Ironically, that law was not invoked in this case; if it had been, Section 215 would have prohibited library officials from disclosing that a request had been made. “It seems to me a fairly fundamental American freedom to read what the hell you please without the government putting its fingers into it,” reacted ALA President Michael Gorman in the July 17 Tribune. Posted July 22, 2005. |
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