The borough of Bloomingdale, New Jersey, filed a lawsuit August 3 in state Superior Court over its public library’s refusal to provide the names and addresses of all its users. The borough council wanted demographic information on patrons so that it could close the library and negotiate a less expensive contract with neighboring Riverdale to provide library services. However, Bloomingdale Free Public Library Director Theresa J. Rubin declined to provide the names without a court order, citing the state law on confidentiality of library records, according to the August 12 Bergen Record.
The borough council originally contended that it had final authority over the library, which it wanted to close in order to get around a state law that requires a fixed amount of property taxes to go toward municipal libraries. After resistance from library trustees and other advocates, the council agreed August 14 to allow voters in November to decide whether to keep the library or seek an outside contract.
In the proposed 2007 municipal budget, property owners would have to pay a dedicated library tax of $323,000 to keep the library open, the Record reported August 15. The borough had earlier contemplated a contract with Riverdale that would only cost $136,000 for the first year.
“There’s nothing in the library statutes that gives the mayor and council or any other agency the power to dictate to the trustees what they’re going to do and what they’re not going to do,” said library attorney Michael Cerone. “That to me is the definition of autonomy.”
In the lawsuit, Bloomingdale officials cited an exception to the state confidentiality law that allows disclosure when the “records are necessary for the proper operation of the library.” But New Jersey Library Association Executive Director Patricia Tumulty contends the meaning is unclear. “There are very few court cases to define this law in any significant manner,” Tumulty told the Record, adding that libraries will always ask to see a subpoena before releasing patron records.
Posted August 24, 2007.