AK to Nix Kids' Privacy Rights
State will allow parents to view children's library records
By Walter Minkel -- School Library Journal, 4/1/2004
Indeed, caregivers have the right to access kids' school records, including those in the media center, but the public library should only release records to an individual cardholder, regardless of age, says Lynn Shepherd, assistant director of the University of Alaska Southeast's library and chair of the Alaska Library Association's government relations committee.
Judith Krug, director of the American Library Association's Office of Intellectual Freedom, says the proposed law is causing great concern because "young people deserve some degree of privacy."
"Parents should ask their children what they have out of a library," Krug adds. "Parents rushing to the legislature gives children a bad example, showing children they have no rights."
Passage of the bill by the House is expected soon and a signature by Gov. Frank Murkowski is "close to 100 percent," says Shepherd.
If the bill passes, Alaska will become the seventh state to pass such a bill over the last three years, following Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Ohio, South Dakota, and West Virginia.
