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Re: Questions that didn't used to be sinister



Peter Kurilecz writes

        I do believe that citizens should have access to public records,
        but at some point access may be/should denied for legitimate
        reasons

-- which, however graciously reasonable it seems, misses the point
entirely: "at some point" and "for legitimate reasons"? Sure. As
determined by whom? On what procedural grounds? With what authority? With
what ability for review and correction?

The impulse to protect a stupid or vicious public from itself is, no
doubt, usually well-intentioned. It is an impulse honorable in the pulpit,
honorable in a police force. But it is an impulse that deserves to be
ignored or, when necessary, actively resisted when it is expressed by
keepers of public records, archivists, or librarians.

There is a reason why Mr. Hensen and SAA have taken a strong stance
protesting the President's self-extension of confidentiality of what the
law and precedent both say should be public records. There is a reason why
ALA protests tracking and reporting what library users read.

Efforts to defend liberty by curtailing it are currently in vogue, it
would seem. No one, however, has as yet required archivists and librarians
to run with this particular pack. It would be short-sighted indeed were we
to start running with it of our own accord.

Daniel Traister
Van Pelt-Dietrich Library
University of Pennsylvania

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