QC Library Patrons Favor Warning Signs About Patriot ActQC Times
By Tory Brecht
Bettendorf public library director Faye Clow faced what she called a "terrible choice" recently when asked by the Quad-Cities chapter of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union to put up warning signs near library materials.
Specifically, the signs would warn about provisions of the USAPatriot Act that would allow records of books and other materials borrowed by patrons to be obtained by federal agents and forbidding librarians from informing the borrowers if their records were being monitored.
"We have people lobbying on the national level against parts of the Patriot Act," [Clow] said, referring to the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom.
"I think people should be aware," said Aaron Brinson, a 17-year-old Pleasant Valley High School student. "They should know what they check out can be looked at."
...Bettendorf's Dawn McKinney, 40, thinks it's important to raise awareness. "People in general need to be made aware of how much access the government has to their lives," she said. "It's a little disturbing because I don't know who decides what is justifiable cause to look at materials."
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