Librarians have a tradition of protecting their patrons' right to know, read or access whatever book or document they choose and the right to do so privately.
But a federal counter-terrorism law conflicts with librarians' sense of protecting these civil liberties, said Annette Kovic, the district consultant for Westmoreland and Fayette public libraries.
"We want to be patriotic and follow the law. But the libraries always felt obligated to protect our users' privacy," Kovic said. "We're in a dilemma."
The USA Patriot Act is at the crux of Kovic's and other local librarians' concerns.
Passed less than two months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the law allows federal law enforcement officials access to electronic information previously considered to be private, which could include public libraries' computer files - files that would tell investigators which books patrons read, which Web sites they access and even where they send their e-mail.
The ramifications of the expansive and complex law are just beginning to surface.
And it was the focus of the American Library Association's mid-winter meeting in January.
Librarians from Westmoreland, Fayette, Washington and Greene counties will meet Friday to discuss the law and the impact It will have on local libraries, said Fred Natale, director of Monessen Library.
But the consensus seems to be that the law won't have much of an impact here in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Ellen O'Toole, director of Jeanette Public Library, said she does not expect to find FBI agents rifling through her computer files or requesting information about a particular patron. But the chance of that happening elsewhere, along with potential civil rights abuses, troubles her.
"If you were looking at (Osama) bin Laden's personal site, theoretically you'd be more suspicious," O'Toole said as an example of her concern.
O'Toole said her library, unlike major library systems such as those in Philadelphia or at Penn State University, does not keep many books on bombs, and not many foreign nationals live in the area - just two reasons why the law wouldn't affect her or her patrons.
Some of the al-Qaida members involved with the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackings used public library computers to send and receive e-mail. Federal law enforcement officials tracked their e-mail to learn what they were communicating prior to the attacks.
"(The law) raised some concerns, but I'm just not sure at this stage of the game whether those concerns will play out," said Glenn Miller, executive director of the Pennsylvania Library Association.
Aimed at giving federal law enforcement agencies the tools they need to investigate terrorist-related activity, the Patriot Act relaxed search-and-seizure restrictions, expanded wiretaps to listen in on anyone's conversation at any time, classified certain government documents and allowed access to banking and electronic records previously considered private information.
The law amended the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act and can be applied only to investigations of suspected "agents of a foreign power," a term that could include U.S. citizens.
Bonnie Egros, director of Belle Vernon Public Library, also said she feels none of her patrons would ever be the target of investigations like those.
"We know our patrons and they know the rules," Egros said.
Belle Vernon and Brownsville Free Public libraries in Fayette County require patrons to have a library card before using computers connected to the Internet. Brownsville asks its patrons to sign an agreement on usage and keeps the document on file.
Regardless of whether the FBI would ever bring an investigation to a local library, libraries don't always keep the sort of records federal law enforcement might want.
Many libraries do not keep long-term records of the books patrons borrow because the information takes up too much storage space. And the practice protects a patron's privacy, O'Toole said.
Computer sign-up sheets, although kept for a month or so at Jeannette, request only a patron's name.
"They're not much use anyway," O'Toole said. "The kids move from one machine to another."
Belle Vernon keeps both types of records for one year, as required by a library board policy, Egros said.
Brownsville does not have an electronic checkout system but leaves a paper trail instead, said head librarian Barry Blaine. He has computer sign-up sheets dating back to April, and a library board policy requires him to keep them.
Miller said the library association is trying to come up with answers to questions about how the law conflicts with librarians' values and a state law that protected patrons' privacy but is now superseded by the Patriot Act.
"If you were a terrorist, (the state law) would protect the terrorist too," O'Toole said.
The association doesn't have any good answers yet, Miller said.
However the association has suggested that individual libraries write a policy spelling out actions staff should take in case a federal investigation team would show up at their door, Miller said. Local and state agencies also could be involved in such searches but only in conjunction with a federal investigation.
"No one in the library community wants to be in a position where acts of terror are the end result," Miller said.
