ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
Volume 14, Number 97
September 26, 2005

In This Issue: PATRIOT Event Location and Details: Please RSVP!

*****PLEASE DISTRIBUTE THIS NOTICE WIDELY*****

Thanks to the DC-area librarians who have expressed interest in 
attending the PATRIOT Act event this Wednesday, September 28th. We 
now have final details on the event's location (below). If you are 
planning to attend, PLEASE RSVP to Bernadette Murphy at 
bmurphy@alawash.org or 202-628-8410. We would like to know how 
many librarians to expect at this important event. 

WHO:	
Alice Knapp, President, Connecticut Library Association 
Ann Beeson, Associate Legal Director, ACLU 
Lisa Graves, Senior Council for Legislative Strategy, ACLU 
Washington Legislative Office 
Representative Bernard Sanders (I-VT)
Leslie Burger, President-elect, American Library Association 
 
WHAT:  Press event regarding the National Security Letter 
provision of the Patriot Act and gag order

WHEN:	Wednesday, September 28, 2005  -- 10:00 a.m.

WHERE: Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2456


Background:
On September 9th, a federal judge in Connecticut ordered the FBI 
to lift a gag that is preventing the ACLU's client -- a member of 
the American Library Association with library records -- from 
discussing critical information of urgent and immediate relevance 
to the PATRIOT Act debate. 
 
As of this hour, ACLU's client "John Doe" stands in silence. John 
Doe has critical, first-hand knowledge about the FBI's use of 
National Security Letters to demand library records -- and is 
eager to share that information with the public and Congress. John 
Doe could speak right now if the Justice Department would lift the 
gag. 
 
With the future of the PATRIOT Act hanging in the balance, lifting 
the gag is the right thing to do. 

I Can't Attend - How Else Can I Help?
You can do your part to let the Justice Department and Congress 
know how important this right to speak is. Go to: 
<http://action.aclu.org/letjohndoespeak> and sign the petition.   
  
ACLU has a privacy policy on all of their action alerts, which you 
can read by clicking on the link. They also have two clickable 
boxes that you can click to OPT OUT of any future communications 
from ACLU, if you wish. 

Questions?
Please call or email Bernadette Murphy - bmurphy@alawash.org or (202) 628-8410.




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ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, 
Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 
toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; Web site: 
http://www.ala.org/washoff.  Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff. 
Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Don 
Essex, Joshua Farrelman, Erin Haggerty, Patrice McDermott and 
Miriam Nisbet. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick 
Weingarten, Director; Carrie Lowe, Kathy Mitchell, Carrie Russell. 
ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy.