Amendment to Wisconsin's Library Record Confidentiality Law
Recommendation in Summary
WLA seeks an amendment to s. 43.30 that would create a new narrow exception to the court order requirement for release of library records for library administrative purposes including collection of fines and penalties, and the protection of library staff, library users, and library property.
Background
Wisconsin's library record confidentiality law (s. 43.30) essentially provides that public library records indicating the identity of any individual library user may not be disclosed except by court order, or to persons acting within the scope of their duties in the administration of the library, to persons authorized by the individual to inspect the records, to custodial parents of children under the age of 16, or to other libraries for purposes of interlibrary loan.
On November 27, 2006, the Wisconsin Attorney General's office issued an informal opinion on the application of s. 43.30 to library video surveillance recordings. This opinion was in response to a request for an opinion from the State Superintendent of Public Instruction based on issues raised by the Sun Prairie Public Library. There had been situations in which local police wanted to review library video tapes, as well as situations in which library officials wanted the police to view library surveillance tapes, in one case, because the library's donation box was stolen while the library was open.
The AG opinion concludes the following:
- All library video surveillance recordings fall within the protections of s. 43.30, including recordings that may identify an individual in the library but do not identify the particular library materials or resources used by that individual.
- Also protected are recordings that only show individuals entering or exiting the building, since these recordings may identify individuals who are using the resources of the library in some fashion.
- Only with a court order may library staff disclose library video recordings or other library records to law enforcement officials (or others) for such purposes as seeking assistance with the recovery of stolen library property or the prosecution of persons who vandalize library property. The only exception to the court order requirement is if someone's life or safety is at risk, such as a child abduction at the library. In such a case, library staff could provide police with video recordings without a court order.
- Wisconsin Statutes s. 43.30 does not preclude library staff from reporting to police observations of criminal activity in the library. So, if library staff observe a patron steal library materials or assault another patron, staff may certainly report the crime to the police and identify the perpetrator. If staff observe possible criminal activity on videotape after the fact, staff may disclose detailed information regarding the crime to police without disclosing the patron's identity. Officers may then obtain a court order to secure release of the records.
The AG opinion recommends that the statewide library community develop and propose amendments to s. 43.30 that "cure some of the statute's deficiencies". In particular, they suggest that s. 43.30 could be amended to simultaneously protect library patron privacy and still allow library staff to provide library surveillance videos (or other library records) to the police when criminal activity is suspected or witnessed.
Additional issues are raised by the fact that many Wisconsin libraries currently provide law enforcement officials with library records (not video recordings) to assist with the recovery of non-returned materials, without first obtaining a court order. Other libraries use private collection agencies for these purposes. According to this AG opinion, these practices are probably not allowable.
Based on the input gathered by the Wisconsin Library Association’s Library Development & Legislation Committee, we believe the following 5 points summarize what the library community wants to accomplish through an amendment to s. 43.30 (confidentiality of library records):
1. Allow the library to release library records to protect against imminent threats to the life or safety of an individual. [The Attorney General’s opinion said this is allowable under the current statute, but we think it would be advisable to make this explicit in the text of s. 43.30.]
2. Allow the library to release records to law enforcement officials when reporting apparent illegal activities.These records could be surveillance video recordings as well as registration records indicating the identity/address, etc. of the suspect. (Note that SB-214 was enacted November 16, 2007 as Act 34; the new law addresses this issue.)
3. Allow the library to release records to law enforcement officials or a collection agency for the purpose of recovering overdue library materials or collecting fines and penalties.
The library community definitely wants to protect against opening up library records to "fishing expeditions" or other releases of records that could compromise the privacy of library use.