Several members have asked NMRLS for assistance with library administrative concerns as they apply to the PATRIOT Act. Here are some links that can be of help. The Association of Law Libraries, American Library Association, Association of Research Libraries, Medical Library Association, and Special Libraries Association co-sponsored a videoconference on the topic in December. Proceedings are available at http://www.arl.org/patriot/.

For more on the videoconference, see the February 2003 issue of Information Today, p.35, "Safeguarding Patrons' Privacy" and an article featured in New England Libraries, January/February 2003, by Cheryl Bryan from the Southeastern Region, http://www.nelib.org/files/Jan_Feb_03.pdf.

Paul Kissman, of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, has tips in MBLC Notes, November/December 2002, page 9, http://www.mlin.lib.ma.us/mblc/publications/notes/21.6/v21n6.pdf.

The American Library Association Office of Intellectual Freedom has collected information on the PATRIOT Act and compiled resolutions from ALA and a number of state library associations. Click here and scroll down to "USA PATRIOT Act" and "The USA PATRIOT Act in the Library."

For help sifting through the legal issues of post-PATRIOT Act privacy, patron records, and public Internet terminals, see http://llrx.com/features/usapatriotact.htm and http://llrx.com/features/libraryrecords.htm.

Here are two sample library policies that address responses to privacy and PATRIOT Act issues. This first is a public library example; the second is an academic library policy:

• http://pauldingcountylibrary.org/patriotactpolicy.htm
• http://library.brandeis.edu/access/privacy.html.