I’m pleased to report that the Justice Department’s order to libraries to destroy public documents on asset forfeitures, which I talked about last week, has been rescinded.
The Justice Department last week rescinded an order that would have required federal depository libraries to withdraw and destroy five department publications that library advocates argued should remain available to the public.
The American Library Association had objected to the June directive from Justice’s criminal division, which involved documents dealing with asset forfeiture laws and procedures, including how citizens can retrieve items confiscated by the government during an investigation.
This whole mess was pretty weird from the start. The DoJ order was sent to libraries out of the blue and without explanation. It directed libraries to destroy materials that merely explained, and in some cases listed, the law on asset forfeiture. The information remained accurate and libraries were not told why the move was necessary. No one could figure out why this was happening.
The ALA noted last week that there have only been 20 to 30 instances since the middle of the 19th century in which the government ordered libraries to destroy public documents, usually because information was proven inaccurate and the government didn’t want to mislead people. This wasn’t the case this time.
Fortunately, the ALA fought back and, in this case, won.
The ALA, concerned that destroying the documents would make it more difficult for the public to see them, had urged its members to contact Congress in an effort to keep the materials in the collections. The group also filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the recalled materials with the department to underscore its contention that the documents should be publicly available.
“You can never have too much information and you can never have access to it in too many different ways,” Brey-Casiano said. “We really think of the federal depository library as sort of the first line of access to government information for the general public.”
It didn’t take long for the Justice Department to back down. I love a happy ending.