Police and security services investigating serious crime or terrorism in England and Wales have the right to seek information on books borrowed or Internet sites accessed by certain library users, a barrister has told CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. They can also mount surveillance operations in libraries if they believe that national security is at risk, to prevent or detect crime, or in the interests of public safety.
Although the position is not clear cut, the powers are probably broad enough to permit the agencies concerned to insist on the installation of spyware in an appropriate case, the advice says.
Legal advice on rights of access to confidential information on library users was requested by CILIP following a number of instances where police had sought information from CILIP members on library users' activities. The advice was first presented to CILIP members by the Institute's President Deborah Shorley at its Annual General Meeting in London on October 27.
According to the advice, provided to CILIP by public law and human rights specialist James Eadie, the police could apply for an order authorising access to library records under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 where a serious arrestable offence had been committed, or under the Terrorism Act 2000, where they believed that the material was likely to be of substantial value to a terrorist investigation.
Surveillance operations in libraries are also possible, under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, the advice continues. This could include monitoring persons' activities or communications, recording anything monitored with a surveillance device, and engaging in covert surveillance to obtain private information about a person.
Finally, under the Intelligence Services Act 1994, the Secretary of State can issue a warrant authorising the security services to take action to protect national security against threats such as terrorism or to support the police.
"We live in difficult times which call for difficult decisions about access to information," Deborah Shorley said. "As librarians and information professionals we must do all we can to help protect our society against terrorism. We need to be vigilant, but we must not overreact. We have a duty of client confidentiality and so we cannot collude with fishing expeditions by the authorities. We expect our members to respect the law of the land, and this advice tells us just where we stand."
"It's important to note that this advice could apply to all library sectors," added CILIP's Chief Executive Bob McKee. "It's not just restricted to public libraries."
A summary of the legal opinion appears below and is also available on the CILIP web site at www.cilip.org.uk/professionalguidance/rightsofaccess/default.htm. Personal members of CILIP can access the full text in the member-only area of CILIP's web site - www.cilip.org.uk - and CILIP is also sending copies to its members who head public, academic and government libraries.
The full text of the advice is also available to the media from:
Tim Buckley Owen, Head of Membership, Marketing & Media.
Tel: 020 7255 0652
Email: tim.buckleyowen@cilip.org.uk
Notes to Editors
Since this legal advice was requested and received by CILIP, the Terrorism Bill has received its second reading in the Commons. CILIP has joined leaders of the other principal representative organisations of the United Kingdom library community in expressing to Home Secretary Charles Clarke its serious reservations about the Bill.
CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals is the leading professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers. It forms a community of around 35,000 people engaged in library and information work, of whom around 23,000 are CILIP Members and around 12,000 are regular customers of CILIP Enterprises.
CILIP members work in all sectors, including business and industry, science and technology, further and higher education, schools, local and central government, the health service, the voluntary sector, national and public libraries. For more information about CILIP, please go to www.cilip.org.uk.
