2003 Annual Report of the Intellectual Freedom Committee

Year-end Report for the Intellectual Freedom Committee
South Carolina Library Association
November 21, 2003

The Committee was involved in three activities in 2002. In each case I worked closely with the SCLA Legislative Committee.

1) USA Patriot Act. At the March 13 SCLA Executive Board meeting Carl Stone, ALA Councilor, presented a motion that SCLA adopt a position, among other things:

A) Opposing any use of governmental power to suppress the free and open exchange of knowledge and information or to intimidate
B) individuals exercising free inquiry, Encouraging all librarians, library administrators, library governing bodies, and library advocates to educate their users, staff, and communities about the process for compliance with the USA PATRIOT Act and other related measures and about the dangers to individual privacy and the confidentiality of library records resulting from those measures
C) Urging librarians everywhere to defend and support user privacy and free and open access to knowledge and information.

David Heisser of the Legislative Committee and I spoke in favor of the resolution. The resolution passed unanimously.

2) National Library Legislative Day. In early May I participated in National Library Legislative Day in Washington, DC. There, I attended a half-day orientation session and participated in visits to the offices of one senator and three representatives to express our concerns about library funding levels and the USA Patriot Act.

3) Presentation on USA Patriot Act. At the SCLA Convention in October I organized and chaired a presentation on the USA Patriot Act by Steve Hinckley of the University of South Carolina Law School. This session was co-sponsored by the SCLA Legislative and the Resource Sharing Interest Group.