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Privacy of book purchases/Tattered Cover/Denver



Colleagues:

Sending on a posting forwarded to me by a friend -
wish I had a tee-shirt........

Carol

Carol A. Edwards
USGS Field Records Library
MS 914, Box 25046, Federal Center
Denver, CO 80225-0046
email: cedwards@usgs.gov
phone: 303-236-1005
fax: 303-236-0015
----- Forwarded by Carol A Edwards/GD/USGS/DOI on 10/30/00 03:20 PM -----


-----Original Message-----
From: circ@forewordmagazine.com [mailto:circ@forewordmagazine.com] On
Behalf Of ForeWord Magazine
Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2000 3:44 PM
To: Multiple recipients of Foreword -
Subject: Foreword this Week

ForeWord This Week is a weekly e-mail news
service covering independent publishing of interest to booksellers,
librarians and other trade professionals.

FOREWORD THIS WEEK 10.25.00

1. T-SHIRT BACK ON: SUBPOENED FOR B. . .

When Kenneth Star decided to subpoena the records of books
purchased at Kramerbooks by a White House intern in the
investigation of President Clinton, a plain gray T-shirt which
could be procured only from the American Bookseller's
Foundation for Free Expression (ABFEE) became, among the
literati, more chic than a Prada bag.

The T-shirt reads, "Subpoenaed for Bookselling" and it's time to
pull it out of your drawer and put it back on.

A Denver District Court judge ruled that Tattered Cover
bookstore owner Joyce Meskis must turn over to police records
involving the sale of two books about drug manufacture to a man
arrested on drug charges. Judge Stephen Phillips, in a moment
of clarity, also issued a restraining order prohibiting police from
examining the suspect's book purchases over an entire month,
saying this request was a violation of the First Amendment.

In April, Denver police obtained a search warrant in an effort to
confirm that two books about methamphetamine laboratories
found at a crime scene in which the illegal drug was allegedly
manufactured were purchased at Tattered Cover. Meskis now
has fifteen days to decide whether she will abide by the judge's
decision or appeal. The ABREE, an organization whose
accomplishments span far, far beyond T-shirt retailing, is
assisting Meskis with legal fees.

To hijack a popular slogan frequently used to support another
amendment, books don't commit crimes, people do. There is no
instance that I can think of in which is reading a criminal activity.
I find it difficult to imagine any one of us getting gooey or
nostalgic for a return to the "good old days" when only the rich
and titled could own books, plagues killed a quarter of the people
in Europe and more than ninety percent of humanity was
illiterate.

OK, if that bit of reasoning-through-the-ages strikes you as a bit
removed from our modern reading experience, hysterical even,
consider this: Do you want those in authority to have access to
your book purchasing history? What if your fellow librarians
learned of your five-romance-novels-a-week habit? What if your
neighbor with the NASCAR banner substituting for curtains
learned you were half-way through, Divorce Your Car (New
Society Publishers) and that the author's argument was
sounding pretty good. What if your dear grandpa, ending his
days living in your spare room found out about your monthly
special orders for anything published by Blue Moon Books.
Reading is mostly a private activity, a relationship cultivated
between writer and reader. When we read, we enter a blessed
meditative state that police sirens would certainly ruin.
Goodness, I certainly do not want my own literary tastes made
public. There might even be some titles from conglomerate
publishers on my list.

Should you feel the need to contact Judge Phillips about the
quantity or quality of his judicial wisdom, or lack thereof, he can
be reached by writing or phoning:

Chief Judge J. Stephen Phillips
City and County Building
1437 Bannock Street
Courtroom 6, Room 209
Denver, CO 80202
(303) 640-2206

Should you be interested in membership in the ABFFE, they
would be happy to have you: http://www.abfee.org.

Should you wish to support the efforts of Ms. Meskis, a modern
day heroine who is in this mess simply because she runs a
couple of welcoming, lovely, creatively and carefully-stocked
bookstores with views of the Rocky Mountains, buy a book from
her store, http://www.tatteredcover.com. The site lists half a
million titles - hopefully you can find something there the police
won't be interested in. Like, The Zinn Reader (Seven Stories
Press), perhaps.

-Mardi Link, Editor-in-Chief

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