Department of Justice Rescinds Order for Libraries to Destroy Documents

The U.S. Department of Justice has withdrawn its June request to the Government Printing Office ordering depository libraries to destroy five DOJ publications—resources for prosecutors handling seized assets and forfeiture cases, including statutes and case histories—because the department had determined they were “for internal use only.”

The about-face came July 30, shortly after the American Library Association’s Washington Office filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the documents, an action that Office of Government Relations Deputy Director Patrice McDermott explained would force the DOJ to either provide the documents or reveal the reason for the order by specifying one of nine FOIA exemptions to withhold them. “There’s no excuse for them to ask libraries to destroy these materials, and no reason in the world to ask libraries to destroy statutes,” McDermott told American Libraries.

Superintendent of Documents Judith C. Russell, who had conveyed the order to libraries on July 20, explained in a July 30 posting to the GPO depository library Listserv that department officials said the materials were “intended only for the internal training use of Department of Justice personnel,” but that they were “not sufficiently sensitive to require removal from the depository library system.”

Before the decision, some librarians had vowed to preserve the materials until the matter was resolved. In a July 29 posting to the ALA Council discussion list, Boston Public Library President Bernard A. Margolis noted that he had contacted Lester Joseph—acting chief of the asset forfeiture and money laundering section of the DOJ’s criminal division, who reportedly made the decision to remove the items—and asked him to reconsider his request. “I believe all he really wanted was that new editions/publications not be placed in the depository system. I do not believe . . . that he actually wanted these to be destroyed,” Margolis said.

Posted July 30, 2004.