ISSN 0028-9485 May 2007 Vol. LVI No. 3 www.ala.org/nif Poorly trained FBI agents underreported the number of times the agency issued National Security Letters (NSLs) to obtain financial and telecommunications records in antiterrorism investigations, neglected to provide proper justification for their use, and failed to put in place record‑keeping procedures to ensure civil liberties were protected, according to a Justice Department audit released March 9. FBI agents also repeatedly provided inaccurate information to win secret court approval of surveillance warrants in terrorism and espionage cases, prompting officials to tighten controls on the way the bureau uses that powerful anti‑terrorism tool, according to Justice Department and FBI officials FBI misused The NSL investigation, conducted by the department’s Office of the Inspector General, prompted congressional leaders to promise a review of the FBI’s expanded powers under PATRIOT act, the USA PATRIOT Act and forced FBI Director Robert S. Mueller to acknowledge that the agency did not have policies in place to handle its new authorities. audit says “I am to be held accountable,” Mueller said, adding that he should have set up an audit system, internal controls, and adequate training and oversight to resolve “confusion and uncertainty” among field agents over the use of NSLs. “We believe the improper or illegal uses we found involve serious misuses of National Security Letter authorities,” Inspector General Glenn A. Fine said in releasing the report. The audit revealed that as many as 22 percent of NSL requests issued in 2003–2005 were not recorded in the official NSL tracking database maintained by the FBI’s Office of the General Counsel. The number of NSL requests in 2005 was approximately 47,000, up from 39,000 in 2003; more than half of the requests in 2004–2005 targeted U.S. citizens. (continued on page 126) Published by the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee, Kenton L. Oliver, Chair Running with Scissors ....................................................118 in this issue Slaughterhouse Five.......................................................118 Speak ................................................................................93 FBI misused PATRIOT Act .............................................85 Speak Bird, Speak Again [Palestine] .............................126 Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes ..........................................93 Newbery winner provokes controversy ...........................87 TTYL .................................................................................92 An Unfinished Life ...........................................................94 Sports Illustrated decides libraries don’t Vamos a Cuba (A Visit to Cuba) ......................................91 need swimsuit issue .........................................................87 Vegan Virgin Valentine .....................................................91 Whale Talk .......................................................................98 Wizardology .....................................................................91 ALA President testifies on EPA library closings .............88 periodicals ALA, others condemn censorship of global Feathered Warrior .........................................................125 warming science ..............................................................89 Gamecock .......................................................................125 Kansas City Star ............................................................107 SMU pressed to fight Bush secrecy ................................90 The Pitch ........................................................................107 Sports Illustrated ..............................................................87 censorship dateline: libraries, schools, colleges and universities, periodicals, art, foreign ................91 theater The Crucible ..................................................................100 from the bench: U.S. Supreme Court, Internet, Grease ..............................................................................97 schools, colleges and universities, The Vagina Monologues ................................................123 newspapers, government spying ............................101 Voices in Conflict .............................................................96 is it legal?: libraries, schools, colleges and universities, protest, access to information, national security, privacy, Internet .........................109 success stories: libraries, schools .................................117 Views of contrubutors to the Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom targets of the censor are not necessarily those of the editors, the Intellectual Freedom books Committee, or the American Library Association. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ...............................99 (ISSN 0028-9485) An Age of Voyages: 1350–1600 .......................................95 America ............................................................................93 Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom is published bimonthly (Jan., Beloved .............................................................................98 Mar., May, July, Sept., Nov.) by the American Library Association, Black Boy .......................................................................118 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. The newsletter is also avail- Blankets ..........................................................................117 able online at www.ala.org/nif. Subscriptions: $70 per year (print), The Bluest Eye ...............................................................118 which includes annual index; $50 per year (electronic); and $85 per year (both print and electronic). For multiple subscriptions Fat Kid Rules the World ..................................................93 to the same address, and for back issues, please contact the The Freedom Writers’ Diary ..........................................118 Office for Intellectual Freedom at 800-545-2433, ext. 4223 or Fun Home ......................................................................117 [email protected]. Editorial mail should be addressed to the Office of The Higher Power of Lucky .............................................87 Intellectual Freedom, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, Illinois 60611. Periodical postage paid at Chicago, IL at additional mailing I Saw Esau: The Schoolchild’s Pocket Book ...................94 offices. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Newsletter on King and King ................................................................105 Intellectual Freedom, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. 86 Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom Newbery Medal winner provokes Sports Illustrated decides libraries controversy don’t need swimsuit issue A thread on a school library discussion list about the Librarians on Publib and other discussion lists dis‑ 2007 Newbery Award winner, The Higher Power of Lucky, covered in the first week of March that none of them catapulted the practice of school librarianship onto the front had received the February 14 swimsuit issue of Sports page of the New York Times. As of February 23, it also had Illustrated. Inquiries to Time Warner eventually resulted propelled the novel into the top forty on Amazon.com’s in a statement from spokesman Rick McCabe that the bestseller list—demonstrating that, for reading material at company had withheld shipment of that issue to libraries least, there is no such thing as bad publicity. and schools because for years the magazine had received The controversy, which arose in the biblioblogosphere complaints that the issue was too risqué. over a thread on LM_NET over the children’s novel’s use of “In the past, we have gotten lots of feedback from par‑ the word “scrotum,” escalated after Publishers Weekly ran ents, teachers, and librarians about the content possibly not a story about the debate. In the novel’s page‑one anecdote, being appropriate for libraries,” McCabe said. ten‑year‑old title character Lucky overhears a meeting of A spokesman for Sports Illustrated, a Time Warner a twelve‑step addiction‑recovery program at which a man property, confirmed that the issue had been withheld from recounts how his dog got bitten by a rattlesnake. Publisher’s about 21,000 subscribers identified as “libraries or class‑ Weekly told how LM_NET subscriber and teacher/librarian rooms.’’ Many of the subscribers affected were libraries at Dana Nilsson of Sunnyside Elementary School in Durango, universities and other educational institutions. None of the Colorado, had reported to fellow list members that twenty‑ affected subscribers had been informed of the decision to four out of twenty‑five respondents to her query agreed withhold the issue. with her that the use of the word was age‑inappropriate and Many librarians were first alerted to the missing issue that their schools would not buy the book. by messages posted to the Serials electronic mailing list. That same day, Publisher’s Weekly published Lucky After reading one such post, Kelly Joyce, the reference and author Susan Patron’s response. A juvenile‑materials collec‑ periodicals librarian for Hanover College in Indiana, veri‑ tion development manager for Los Angeles Public Library, fied that her library had not received the issue. Patron said she “would not talk down” to her readers, add‑ “I thought this was odd,’’ Joyce said, adding that she ing, “To figure out the world, children have to unscramble had never fielded any patron complaints