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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

Disinformation, Paranoia and my local library

All Acting Regiment

18:39 / 04.06.03

When I was younger i did a work experience course in my local library. This means working there as a member of staff, and then doing a report on it.

This is of interest to more than just me because i live in a town very similar to other towns in england and i happen to know that a simmilar system runs across the nation.

I was shown where the coffee was kept (prorities). Then I was shown where the "undesirable" books were kept. These included:

Mein Kampf.
Dante's inferno.
Faust.
Orwell's 1984.

Now. Were they being kept away from the public by evil conspirators? Do "they" want to stop us getting our hands on material that might damage them?

I put this question to the woman.

"No", she said, "We just don't like the covers".

OOOOOOOHHH dear.

18:53 / 04.06.03

What a very peculiar selection... though I must admit I am rather charmed by the idea of each local library having their own version of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum...

Those books seem so disparate that in fact not liking the covers is probably the only reason for lumping them all together in such a way.

19:07 / 04.06.03

Heh. It's not the books that are undesirable—it's the folks who take out "those sorts of books." You've seen SE7EN?

"For a long time, the F.B.I.’s been hooked into the library system, keeping accurate records. ... They monitor reading habits. Not every book, but certain ones are flagged. Books about… let’s say, how to build a nuclear bomb, or maybe Mein Kampf. Whoever takes out a flagged book has their library records fed to the F.B.I. from then on. ... Legal… illegal. These terms don’t apply."

SE7EV was fiction... was fiction, ostensibly. If US Attorney General John Ashcroft has his way, that particular aspect of it, at least, will be reality...

"Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act eliminates several important safeguards that prevent law enforcement officials in foreign intelligence investigations from engaging in fishing expeditions in bookstore and library records. FBI agents can search the bookstore or library records of anyone who they believe may have information relevant to their investigations, including people who are not suspected of committing a crime. The request for a court order authorizing the search is heard by a judge in a secret proceeding, which prevents a bookseller or librarian from objecting on First Amendment grounds. The court order contains a gag provision that forbids a bookseller or librarian to alert anyone to the fact that a search has occurred. As a result, it is impossible to protest the search even after the fact."

19:25 / 04.06.03

Yes, I read about that - also I read that many librarians and booksellers are up in arms about it and intend to protest the law loudly and clearly. My first thought was 'well, don't buy books on credit if you can help it...' but in this world of increasing paranoia, who's to say that not using credit cards won't become suspicious in its own right? (Gosh, I feel almost like Chrome...). The whole thing is outrageous.

21:56 / 04.06.03

Yikes! That library should have contest with the local kids to make nice bright pretty covers for those books.

unheimlich manoeuvre

22:44 / 04.06.03

quote posted by Jack Fear
FBI agents can search the bookstore or library records of anyone who they believe may have information relevant to their investigations, including people who are not suspected of committing a crime.

fortunately there is no similiar arrangement between booksellers and the British intelligence services. i worked in bookselling for eight years and our computer system was never integrated to associate the purchaser with what was purchased. once i even received a faxed order from Jordan for textbooks on nuclear plant construction. i was instructed to contact the DTI and they informed me there were no export restrictions on such information.

18:02 / 05.06.03

but in this world of increasing paranoia, who's to say that not using credit cards won't become suspicious in its own right?

actually, bank accounts that host a lot of cash transactions are already flagged as suspicious (drug dealing and money laundering). they have been for years...~sigh~

All Acting Regiment

18:31 / 05.06.03

Ah, i love when a bunch of people respond.

Yeah. I agree with all of you, really. The thing is, I see books as a source of information or ideas. The possibly "sick" people who get out mein kampf in order to worship it need to spend some time living under persecution.

08:49 / 10.06.03

... and a librarian judging these books by their covers'. That really is funny.

13:23 / 10.06.03

Could this be some kind of freakishly-religious-librarian issue?

Dante and Faust both presumably have something vaguely daemonic on the front..

I'd be interested to see what's on the cover of recently published editions of Mein Kampf.. I mean, I'm presuming it's primarily being used by people studying fascism/nazi germany for school or college and people doing research etc. - does it have a plain, unshowy cover, or an image which comments on the books inherent wrongness or suggests it's to be used as a historical curiosity? I'm thinking that having a great big swastika or something might be .. kind of unwise.

Are these books being hidden in a dark corner, or are they actually being taken off the shelves? Cos the former would be kind of funny, the latter kind of depressing..