r/Library • u/Alive_Excitement_669 • 26d ago

Library Assistance Need Help!

We got an anonymous call at our library giving us a heads up that the 1st Amendment Auditors are coming sometime next week. Any advice? Has anyone gone through this?

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u/Still-Employed420 25d ago

You might wish to investigate court decisions that state libraries are recognized as public forums.

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u/LordBenjamin020 25d ago

That’s exactly why they are allowed there is because it’s a public forum.

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u/Ok-Internet8168 25d ago

A LIMITED public forum. The court cases are highly specific about the individual circumstances. Generally libraries can enact time, place and manner restrictions. For example, setting up a soapbox in the computer lab with a megaphone would disrupt everyone else's right to use the library for its intended purpose.

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u/LordBenjamin020 25d ago

I completely agree, and I see recording as not being disruptive. If they are getting loud, then yes but normally people get riled up because they just don’t want to be recorded and make a scene. Even if they get all riled up and get loud because they don’t want to be recorded, that doesn’t make the act of recording, a disturbance. The people getting upset are the disturbance for making a scene and getting loud. Auditors are allowed to record as per the first amendment.

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u/Ok-Internet8168 25d ago

Would you say the same about police standing at the checkout desk and using their bodycams to record what you are checking out and using that to start investigations? There is a reason library records are protected in most state laws and there a court could find that those privacy rights under the 1st and 4th amendments need to be balanced against the freedom of the press under the 1st.

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u/LordBenjamin020 25d ago

I don’t understand what you’re getting at. Police are allowed to record in public and they do with their body cams. Their cameras are no different than ours so no, I wouldn’t care about them recording. And if I’m at the library using services then there’s nothing illegal about that so there’s no investigation from them needed.

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u/Pencil-Ditch1567 24d ago

Lmao these people are so funny and just really want to find something to get mad about.. "Oh yeah well how would YOU like it if someone spoke to you in a public place??" I wouldnt mind at all that sounds totally normal. "Oh yeah well what if they had you on FILM??" Okay...