BACK TO INDEX

Legal Questions	Bibliography Author
From a circulation desk: Should it refuse to give any patron information to anyone, even law enforcement personnel, without a subpoena?	Andrew Gurthet Lisa Nash There are two bibliographies for this question.

Back to List of Legal Questions  

Question: From a circulation desk: Should it refuse to give any patron information to anyone, even law enforcement personnel, without a subpoena?

Encyclopedic Resources:

A California patron without a legal background may prefer to start with a law dictionary or secondary law sources for background and additional information. Such sources could include Black's Law Dictionary, Law Dictionary for Non-Lawyers, California Jurisprudence, Witkin's Summary of California Law, and ALR (American Law Reports). Relevant subject headings might include:

1. Libraries, Library
2. Public records

In this case, neither the law encyclopedias or ALR furnished useful information.

Electronic Resources: (some suggestions)

1. California code may be researched via findlaw (http://www.findlaw.com) or NOCALL (http://www.nocall.org) which leads to California Law (http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html).
2. Case law may be researched via findlaw (http://www.findlaw.com) or through fee-based legal databases such as LEXIS-NEXIS or WESTLAW.
3. Relevant Law Review articles may be researched via findlaw (http://www.findlaw.com) or through a variety of fee-based electronically published law reviews or services such as LEXIS.

Statutory and Case Law Resources:

1. A brief search of LARMAC (consolidated index to the constitution and laws of California) via the subject heading Library and subheading Records led to the following references:
   • General, CA GOV 6267
   • Disclosure, CAL GOV 6254(j)
   One can use this reference to look at the statute in West's Annotated California Code or Deering's Annotated California Code to find legislative history and possible related cases. In this case, no cases on point were identified.
2. A brief search of the index of California Forms of Pleading and Practice of subject heading Libraries yielded a reference to Privacy. Following this reference, California Forms of Pleading and Practice provides a summary of the California law pertaining to library circulation records as well as referencing GOV 6254. This reference book may be used to locate relevant case law, statutes, or forms. In this case, only the above mentioned California statutes were identified.
   • Library Circulation Records Except as provided in Gov. Code 6254.7 (air pollution data as public records), nothing in the California Public Records Act (Gov. Code 6250 et seq.) may be construed to require disclosure of library circulation records kept for the purpose of identifying the borrower of items available in libraries and library and museum materials made or acquired and presented solely for reference or exhibition purposes. However, this exemption does not apply to records of fines imposed on such borrowers (Gov. Code 6254(j)). Moreover, all registration and circulation records of any library that is in whole or in part supported by public funds shall remain confidential and shall not be disclosed to any person, local agency, or state agency, except
     1. by a person acting within the scope of his or her duties within the administration of the library;
     2. by a person authorized, in writing, by the individual to whom the records pertain to inspect the records; and
     3. by order of the appropriate !
     Superior court (Gov. Code 6267). As used in Gov. Code 6267, the term "registration records" includes any information that a library requires a patron to provide in order to become eligible to borrow books and other materials, and the term "circulation records" includes any information that identifies the patrons borrowing particular books and other material (Gov. Code 6267). By its terms, Gov. Code 6267 does not apply to statistical reports of registration and circulation or to records of fines collected by the library. A Shepardization of CA GOV 6254(j) identified Hemet v. Superior Court of Riverside: 37 Cal App 4th 1411 (p. 1421) as a case of interest to CA GOV 6254 et seq..

     Law Review and Trade News Articles:

     A brief search of LEXIS-NEXIS yielded a number of articles which do not necessarily discuss California cases, however, they may be of interest or lead to other cases on point.

     1. 65 NYU L. Rev. 1532 Ulrika, E. A. (1990). The FBI's library awareness program: Is big brother reading over your shoulder? New York University Law Review, 65, 1532.
     2. 69 Iowa L. Rev. 535 Hinz, C. M. (1984). The unexamined issue of privacy in public library circulation records in Iowa. Iowa Law Review, 69(2), 535-550.
     3. 30 Am. Univ. L. Rev. 275 Wilson, M. K. (1980). Surveillance of individual reading habits: Constitutional limitations on disclosure of library borrower lists. American University Law Review, 30(1), 275-321.
     4. 3 Georgia State Univ. L. Rev. 443 McClellan, J. (1987). Library records: Provide for confidentiality and non-disclosure. Georgia State University Law Review, 3(2), 443-445.
     5. 81 Law Library J. 733 Kennedy, B. M. (1989). Confidentiality of library records: A survey of problems, policies, and laws. Law Library Journal, 81(4), 733-767.
     6. 81 Law Library J. 769 Johnson, B. S. (1989). "A more cooperative clerk": The confidentiality of library records. Law Library Journal, 81(4), 769-804.

        Back to List of Legal QuestionsLast Updated: October 15, 1998

Law Review and Trade News Articles:

A brief search of LEXIS-NEXIS yielded a number of articles which do not necessarily discuss California cases, however, they may be of interest or lead to other cases on point.

1. 65 NYU L. Rev. 1532 Ulrika, E. A. (1990). The FBI's library awareness program: Is big brother reading over your shoulder? New York University Law Review, 65, 1532.
2. 69 Iowa L. Rev. 535 Hinz, C. M. (1984). The unexamined issue of privacy in public library circulation records in Iowa. Iowa Law Review, 69(2), 535-550.
3. 30 Am. Univ. L. Rev. 275 Wilson, M. K. (1980). Surveillance of individual reading habits: Constitutional limitations on disclosure of library borrower lists. American University Law Review, 30(1), 275-321.
4. 3 Georgia State Univ. L. Rev. 443 McClellan, J. (1987). Library records: Provide for confidentiality and non-disclosure. Georgia State University Law Review, 3(2), 443-445.
5. 81 Law Library J. 733 Kennedy, B. M. (1989). Confidentiality of library records: A survey of problems, policies, and laws. Law Library Journal, 81(4), 733-767.
6. 81 Law Library J. 769 Johnson, B. S. (1989). "A more cooperative clerk": The confidentiality of library records. Law Library Journal, 81(4), 769-804.

   Back to List of Legal QuestionsLast Updated: October 15, 1998