Illinois Bill Would Amend Library Privacy Law

http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2005abc/march2005ab/illprivacy.cfm

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Posted March 18, 2005.

Illinois Bill Would Amend Library Privacy Law

Almost a year after a suburban Chicago library refused to share patron information in a criminal investigation without a court order, the Illinois General Assembly is considering whether to amend privacy statutes so that libraries would have to open patron records to the immediate scrutiny of law enforcement under certain circumstances. HB 1582 states that libraries must release identifying registration and circulation information at a police officer’s request if the officer has probable cause to believe someone is in imminent danger of physical harm.

Rep. Joe Dunn (R-Naperville), the bill’s sponsor, said in the March 11 Springfield State Journal-Register that his interest in the issue stems from a May 2004 incident in which city library staff abided by existing confidentiality laws and refused to release the name of a man who had been using an online workstation until police returned with a court order. Three teens had reported that they had seen the man masturbating in public while viewing sexually explicit digitized images.

“The library community feels very strongly about the confidentiality of library records,” Naperville Public Libraries Deputy Director Mark West explained.

As of March 10, the Illinois Library Association was maintaining a “neutral” stance on the legislation, which had cleared the Judiciary Committee of the state house.

Posted March 18, 2005.