Small Town Librarian

Amazing what your heart will do when you come in on a sunny April morning and find a subpoena for a specific patron's records on your desk.  Seemed like a cloud went over the sun and a cold cold wind was blowing suddenly.  After the momentary palpitation, I called the city attorney and got the ball rolling on seeing whether it was a legitimate request for records.  It was.

Here's what I learned from the situation:

Stay calm.  Calm good.

Attorneys are your friends. 

When you find out you have to hand over documents, try to swallow down the militant librarian inside who wants to scream NO! and throw herself bodily on the papers.

You probably want to know how long your shared library automation system is keeping the files on your patrons.  Ours is a leeetle bit too long for my comfort.

And finally, looks like a conversation about record retention and policy is coming at a system level. 

Look at all the trouble one little subpoena can stir up!