Joan Airoldi

20, no. 1 Winter 2006 27 backup polices and are updating ownership of the records and procedures should another such incident take place. Prior to this incident, the WCLS board of trustees had passed a resolution to support an amendment of the USA PATRIOT Act and reaffirm the role of the public library as a foundation of democracy in Whatcom County. 2 Since then both the city of Bellingham and Whatcom County have also passed resolutions about the PATRIOT Act. Another decision facing the board was whether to report this incident to ALA anonymously or to allow the story to be told. This article is testimony of that decision. Because of the sunset debate raising the similarities of this incident to elements of secrecy and confidentiality of the USA PATRIOT Act, the story of the Whatcom Public Library has generated national publicity and local and international e-mail responses. The vast majority have applauded the library’s efforts. One library user wrote:

Know that there are many “senior citizen” library card holders like me with an interest in world developments as well as multicultural political and social commentary including dissent who, sadly, have not used their cards for same since the PATRIOT Act was passed. I applaud your going public with the incident you described.