Conservative Activist Is Forcing Libraries to Turn Over Internet Complaints Records

Staff -- School Library Journal, 8/1/1999

David Burt, the president of a pro-filtering group called Filtering Facts, has rattled public libraries in at least eight states, including California, Michigan, Ohio, and New Jersey. Burt is requesting through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that libraries turn over documentation of staff and customer complaints of "patrons accessing pornographic or sexually explicit material on public Internet terminals." Failure to comply with his requests may result in libraries facing legal action.

According to Judith Krug, director of ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom, ALA is advising librarians to consult their state FOIA laws and to contact their attorneys to determine whether they must provide the information requested. ALA has posted on its Web site general guidelines for coping with FOIA requests (www.ala.org/alaorg/oif/foia inf.html).