The Newton Tab is reporting that last week library officials in Newton, MA insisted that the FBI get a search warrant before they would be allowed to examine a library computer. It was determined that a terrorist threat to Brandeis University originated from one of the computers at Newton Free Library. Local police rushed to the library, followed by the FBI and State Police.
Requests to examine any of the computers were rebuffed by both the Library Director and the Mayor until they got a warrant.
See City demands warrant in FBI investigation
Law enforcement and Newton Free Library officials were embroiled in a tense standoff for nearly 10 hours last week when the city refused to let police and the FBI examine library computers without a warrant.
Continued below
This was in response to terrorist threats received at Brandeis University which led to the evacuation of 12 buildings at Brandeis and a nearby elementary school.
Police rushed to the main library last Wednesday after it was determined that a terrorist threat to Brandeis University had been sent from a computer at the library. But requests to examine any of its computers were rebuffed by library Director Kathy Glick-Weil and Mayor David Cohen on the grounds that they did not have a warrant.
While one law enforcement official said he was "totally disgusted" with the city's attempt to hold up a time-sensitive investigation of potential terrorist threat, Cohen is defending the library's actions, calling it one of Newton's "finest hours."
"We showed you can enforce the law ... without jeopardizing the privacy of innocent citizens," Cohen said.
The same story also appears in the Daily News Tribune
City stalls FBI access in library and the Boston Herald (subscription required)
Terror threat sparks Newton librarian/FBI standoff
I can't find any record of this in the Boston Globe but did find an article from 2003 Librarians fight search law that mentions Glick-Weil. They said:
Kathy Glick-Weil, director of the Newton Free Library, said she opposes the government having the authority to search an individual's library records without probable cause and worries that the law compromises the library's traditional role of promoting the free exchange of information and ideas.
"Library records have historically been private," she said. "People have always been able to visit a library without fear of their activity being monitored."
So it seems that last week, she bravely defended those rights.
According to the 2003 article in the Globe, Newton had adopted a policy for handling search warrants and subpoenas:
Many libraries are devising policies intended to balance legal compliance with patrons' privacy, directors say.
In Newton, where aldermen last week urged the town's public library to post a notice that library records are subject to government scrutiny and that library workers are forbidden to discuss such searches, the library's trustee board late last month adopted a policy for handling search warrants and subpoenas. Library staff are told to ask for official identification and authorization and contact the city's lawyer, but not to interfere with the search and seizure.
As an aside, Newton Free Library is highly rated. It has ranked in the
top four libraries of its size in the country (by population category) for each of the last five years.
I'm wondering why it took the authorities so long to get a search warrant. Ten hours does seem excessive. In the meantime, they must have put a lot of pressure on the Library Director, who thankfully had the backing of the Mayor and stood her ground. There is no mention in the article of whether the FBI were able to find the sender of the e-mail. I'm guessing the delay in getting the warrant may not have made any difference. What do you think?