The Bookseller.com

18th May 2008

Anti-terror threat to librarian role

02.05.08 Benedicte Page

Police forces are requesting information on the library borrowing records of individuals under police surveillance, librarians have reported.

The requests are understood to centre on areas with a high Muslim population. John Pateman, head of libraries in Lincolnshire, criticised the development, saying it went against library ethics and could damage community cohesion. “It concerns me. Public libraries are one of the last public spaces where people don’t have to justify themselves,” he said.

Warwickshire head of li­braries Ayub Khan said that librarians “right across the country” had seen instances where the police have asked for library records—“not just books, but also access to records of the internet sites individuals have visited”. A further librarian confirmed direct experience of such a police request.

Librarians’ concerns come after controversy in the US, where surveillance in libraries became a major public issue following the passing of the 2001 US Patriot Act. A Home Office spokesperson said a police request of this nature was a matter for individual police forces: “The Home Office doesn’t tell police forces how to investigate crime, if this allegation is true.” An Association of Chief Police Officers spokesperson added: “If you’re leading an inquiry about someone, you would be aware of their activities. A librarian would be like anyone else, a neighbour or a local shopkeeper—it would be another form of inquiry.”

The news comes as CILIP warns the MLA that its draft guidance on the management of controversial stock in libraries could cause unnecessary self-censorship by librarians. The MLA was commissioned by the government to launch the consultation after the furore over extremist Islamist literature found in eight Tower Hamlets libraries last autumn.

The MLA’s draft guidance tells librarians they should take precautions “to ensure information that is likely to be useful to ‘terrorists’ is not stocked”. CILIP’s response warns that the advice may cause “unnecessary self-censorship by public libraries”. It says it promotes “a climate of fear and self-protection which, if taken to logical conclusions, could lead to the culling of established literary and religious works including the Bible and the Koran”.

Pateman has lodged a personal response criticising the MLA’s guidance. “The guidance says, ‘If you think it appropriate to do so, ignore race relations legislation. If you have doubts about providing material to the Muslim community, don’t do it.’ That’s dangerous.”

MLA spokesman John Harrison said responses to the draft consultation were being analysed and “sensible comments” would be taken on board. The MLA aims to issue its final guidance by the end of July.

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