WHATCOM COUNTY - The FBI
wants to know who checked out a book from a small library about Osama Bin
Laden. But the library isn't giving out names, saying the government has
no business knowing what their patrons read.
The library in Deming isn't much larger than a family home. Located in
rural Whatcom County, it hardly seems the site for a showdown with the
feds.
"I think we all figure it's places like the New York Library System
that's going to be one of the first we hear about," said the attorney for
the Whatcom County Library System, Deborra Garret.
At the center of the issue, a book titled "Bin Laden: The Man Who
Declared War on America."
The FBI confiscated the original book after a patron reported than some
one hand wrote a bin Laden quote in the margin that read: "Let history be
witness I am a criminal."
The FBI demanded to know the names and addresses of everyone who ever
checked out the book.
"Libraries are a haven where people should be able to seek whatever
information they want to pursue without any threat of government
intervention," said Director of Whatcom County Library System, Joan
Airoldi.
Because of privacy policies, the library does not give out circulation
records without a court order. When the FBI got a grand jury subpoena, the
library filed a motion to quash it -- citing the rights of all people who
use the library.
"Like the right to read and to read the material of one's choice
without fear that someone will come around with questions about why you
chose that book," said Garrett.
The FBI withdrew the subpoena, reserving the right to file it again.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office says they are not
permitted to discuss anything that involves the grand jury.
If the feds had demanded the records under the Patriot Act, the library
would have had to hand them over without question and without help from
the courts.
The FBI still has the bin Laden book.
Librarians point out, it's overdue.
