Hurrah for Margolis
TheBostonChannel.com - News - Chief May Refuse To Give Feds Info About Patrons
Hurrah for Bernard Margolis of the Boston Public Library, a librarian who feels that principles are worth risk and that civil liberties deserve defense from librarians! Too often I have heard local librarians either not see the Patriot Act as a concern for them or insist that those of us concerned not draw attention to ourselves. Let us all join Margolis in saying that we won't just stand by and see Section 215 used to abuse civil rights.
"Clearly, the challenge for people like me who believe in librarianship and the principles of free speech means if I were to receive such a request, I would have to give very strong consideration to going public with that," he said in an interview published in Monday's Boston Herald.
Margolis, 51, said going public with requests for information "would be appropriate in furtherance of the idea that privacy and free speech rights need a lot of defense and support."
At the annual conference of the American Library Association last week in Orlando, Fla., which Margolis attended, delegates discussed a pending Senate measure that would create severe penalties -- including a five-year prison sentence -- if librarians violate the Patriot Act."