ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 13, Number 53 July 23, 2004 In This Issue: Justice Department asks depository libraries to destroy forfeiture documents The Department of Justice has asked the Superintendent of Documents to instruct depository libraries to destroy all copies of the materials listed below. DOJ claims that these are "training materials and other materials that the DOJ staff did not feel were appropriate for external use." GPO/SuDocs is doing what it is required to do and did do a specific check with DOJ on this request - so that is not the issue It is the case, however, that -- as one attorney put it -- these are the types of materials that law offices have on hand "to help people get their stuff back" from the government. Moreover, if law offices and law libraries have them, they are hardly internal use only. We understand that DOJ has wanted -- for years -- to keep this material internal and has not succeeded in doing so. Now what they will be doing is making it difficult for the public -- those without access to a law office or law library -- to get access to these materials. We urge you to contact your Members of Congress about this (particularly if they are on the House or Senate Judiciary Committees) [see capwiz.com/ala/dbq/officials/directory/directory.dbq?command=congdir] and convey your concern about the Department of Justice requiring materials that have been and are still public -- except through Federal Depository libraries now -- being removed and destroyed. In addition to the notice to depository libraries , this ALAWON also contains a follow-on communication to a public list from Judy Russell (the Superintendent of Documents). ********************************* July 20, 2004 Dear Depository Librarian: The Department of Justice has asked the Superintendent of Documents to instruct depository libraries to destroy all copies of the materials listed below. Please withdraw these materials immediately and destroy them by any means to prevent disclosure of their contents. The Department of Justice has determined that these materials are for internal use only. Documents to be removed and destroyed: Title: Civil and Criminal Forfeiture Procedure Class: J 1.2:C 49/17 Item no: 0717 Shipping list: 2004-0276-M Shipping list date: May 7, 2004 Title: Select Criminal Forfeiture Forms Class: J 1.2:F 76/8 Item no.: 0717 Shipping list: 2004-0038-P Shipping list date: December 12, 2003 Title: Select Federal Asset Forfeiture Statutes Class: J 1.2:AS 7/2/2004 Item no.: 0717 Shipping list no.: 2004-0077-P Shipping list date: February 5, 2004 Title: Asset forfeiture and money laundering resource directory Class: J 1.89/3:M 74/2004 Item no.: 0717 A 11 Shipping list no. 2004-0120-P Shipping list date: March 24, 2004 Title: Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000 (CAFRA), PL no. 106-185, 114 Stat. 202 (2000) Class: J 1.2:C 49/16 Item no: 0717 Shipping list no.: 2000-0367-P Shipping list date: September 23, 2000 Both GPO and the U.S. Department of Justice regret any inconvenience resulting from this request and we appreciate your cooperation. Sincerely, JUDITH C. RUSSELL Superintendent of Documents ________________________ From Russell, Judith C. (SuDoc) 7/22/2004 3:48:54 PM These DOJ documents were intended for internal use only, but were not correctly marked as internal use only when sent to GPO for printing. Had they been correctly marked, we would not have obtained and distributed copies without the permission of the publishing of the publishing agency. I personally spoke with the printing officer at DOJ and advised him about the definition in Title 44 that allow GPO to disseminate publications that are for internal use only if they have educational value or public interest. He advised me that these were training materials and other materials that the DOJ staff did not feel were appropriate for external use. Agencies have the option to ask that the item be destroyed by the libraries or returned either to GPO or the publishing agency. In this case, DOJ was satisfied with having the libraries remove the item and dispose of it. This is a routine process. There is a SuDocs policy in place for agencies to recall material. The agency must give a reason for the recall and, in this case, I personally verified that it was a valid reason. We are retaining several copies for the Collection of Last Resort and future public access if that is permissible in the future. Please let me know if you need additional information. Judy Judith C. Russell (jrussell@gpo.gov) Managing Director, Information Dissemination (Superintendent of Documents) U.S. Government Printing Office Phone: 202-512-0571 Fax: 202-512-1434 ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. 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