Tuesday morning, April 29, the House voted to concur with the Senate-passed version of the library patron confidentiality bill (S. 220). Now it goes to the governor for his signature before becoming law. Please call or write your representatives and thank them for their support on this measure. Also, a big thanks to John Shullenberger for all his efforts on our behalf.
Posted
on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 at 3:49 pm in the Blogroll, Government Relations, Intellectual Freedom category.
. . .and urge them to vote in favor of S. 220, the bill to protect the confidentiality of library patrons records. Please ask them to support the bill as voted by the House Judiciary Committee. You might indicate that this bill will codify our professional code of ethics and make it clear to all Vermonters that their library records are confidential, and is much like laws in more than 40 other states.
To find out who your representatives are, go to: http://www.leg.state.vt.us/legdir/legdir2.htm
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Posted
on Thursday, April 24th, 2008 at 8:47 am in the Blogroll, Government Relations, Intellectual Freedom category.
On Friday, Feb. 22, 2008, the Vermont Senate passed S. 220, “An act relating to the confidentiality of library patron records.” The bill as passed largely reflects the language proposed by Vermont Library Association and Vermont School Library Association, except that it grants parental access to records of public library patrons under the age of 16. We expect the House Judiciary to take up consideration of the companion House bill (H. 745) soon. To track these bills, please visit the Vermont Legislative Bill Tracking System at http://www.leg.state.vt.us/database/status/status.cfm
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on Monday, February 25th, 2008 at 10:41 am in the Intellectual Freedom, news category.
On Friday, Feb. 15, the Vermont Senate Government Operations Committee voted in favor of S. 220, “An Act Relating to the Confidentiality of Library Patron Records.” The bill now goes to the full Senate on Tuesday, Feb. 19. VLA members are encouraged to call or send e-mail messages to their senators asking them to support the bill. S. 220 is quite similar to our proposed bill, except that the committee amended it to allow parental/guardian access to the records of children under 16–even for materials that are not overdue. FYI, here’s the VLA statement explaining the importance of confidentiality for minors: Statement on the importance of protecting the confidentiality of minors
Posted
on Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 at 9:12 am in the Intellectual Freedom, news category.
On January 17, librarians representing VLA and VSLA testified in support of S. 220, a bill to protect the confidentiality of library records. Posted here are links to testimony by Trina Magi, Susan Monmaney, and Karen Lane, a letter from a parent, and the marked-up bill showing changes requested by VLA and VSLA. For a Q&A sheet explaining the rationale behind the bill and a handout you can distribute to patrons, see the January 8 post titled “Library Confientiality Bill Introduced in VT Senate” in the Intellectual Freedom section of the VLA Web site. If you have questions or comments, please contact VLA Intellectual Freedom Committee Chair Trina Magi, 656-5723 or trina.magi@uvm.edu.
Trina Magi’s testimony
Susan Monmaney’s testimony
Karen Lane’s testimony
Sandra Lindberg’s letter
Bill with changes requested by VLA and VSLA
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on Monday, January 28th, 2008 at 9:36 am in the Intellectual Freedom, news category.
I had the good fortune yesterday to attend a presentation at which Bassem Youssef , FBI whistleblower, spoke. Mr. Youssef is the highest ranking Arab American at the FBI and oversees the department that monitors National Security Letters. He is a decorated agent who was a trusted and respected expert in the politics and culture of the Middle East. Shortly after the implementation of the Patriot Act Mr. Youssef noticed a dramatic change in his work environment. He believes that he has been discriminated against by the FBI because he has questioned their counter terrorism recruiting process, particularly the lack of Arabic speaking agents, and the unfettered use of National Security Letters by untrained FBI officers in the field. Before the Patriot Act National Security Letters had to be approved at the very top level of the FBI, following the passage of the Patriot Act they may be generated and served for nearly any reason.
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Posted
on Sunday, January 13th, 2008 at 9:57 am in the ALA, Intellectual Freedom category.
We are delighted to announce that Senator Claire Ayer of Addison County has introduced S. 220, “An Act Relating to the Confidentiality of Library Patron Records,” in response to VLA’s request for a stronger and clearer law protecting the confidentiality of our library patrons.
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Posted
on Tuesday, January 8th, 2008 at 11:55 am in the Intellectual Freedom, Uncategorized, news category.
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