Lawrence’s public library shelves carry biographies of terrorists, essays on anarchism and instructions for making Molotov cocktails.

In an afternoon of browsing, a library patron could find and check out books on Islam, the atom, human sacrifice, the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge and the art of fighting with knives.

This kind of library reading — material that might be considered suspicious in the post-Sept. 11 era — is the subject of a debate that continues two years after the deadly terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. The U.S.A. Patriot Act, passed less than two months after the attacks, makes it easier for federal investigators to force librarians — or any business owner — to turn over records and receipts.

But the Patriot Act addresses dozens of topics including money laundering, wiretapping and compensation for terrorism victims, and civil libertarians admit that some of these issues are more pressing than the law’s library-related provisions.

So why has the image of federal agents in the cozy, quiet public library become a centerpiece of resistance to the Patriot Act?

“The library issue applies to everybody — to kids, to college students,” said Steve Lopes, secretary and treasurer of the Douglas County chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. “That’s the attraction of focusing in on the library provision: Everyone can relate to it.”

What the law says

To obtain business records or library records under the terms of the Patriot Act, investigators must get a judge’s order through the “Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.” They must show to the judge that the records are sought to obtain “foreign intelligence information not concerning a U.S. person” or to protect against terrorism or “clandestine intelligence activities,” according to the Justice Department.

The department, on a Web site designed to ease Americans’ fears of the Patriot Act, points out that these investigations can’t be conducted against citizens solely on the basis of First Amendment activities. The site also mentions that investigators have “no interest in the library habits of ordinary Americans.”

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on Washington, D.C., and New York, the federal government now has wide powers to prevent terrorism, including the ability to look at library patrons' records, under the U.S.A. Patriot Act. Lawrence Library director Bruce Flanders said that so far he's not been asked to open up any records for government investigators.

That doesn’t ease Lopes’ concerns.

“I’m not an attorney, but I want a definition. I want to understand ‘clandestine,'” he said. “It’s a pretty blank check to me.”

Lower standards

Before Sept. 11, investigators had to go before a federal grand jury — in other words, a group of citizens — to obtain access to such records, said Michael Hoeflich, a Kansas University law professor who has given lectures on the law to groups of librarians around the state.

He said he suspects it’s much easier today, under the Patriot Act, to convince a surveillance court judge that someone’s reading habits are relevant to an investigation.

¢ American Library Assn. Freedom to Read statement¢ U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., “Freedom to Read Protection Act”¢ Freedom to Read Protection Act¢ Free Expression Network

Hoeflich said he thought what federal investigators wanted from libraries was not so much records of checked-out books, but records from public-access Internet terminals.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, investigators linked some of the terrorists to public-access library computers in Delray Beach, Fla.

Justin “Rocko” Brown, 21, who was participating in an MTV-related chat Tuesday on a computer at the Lawrence Public Library, said if investigators were smart, they’d be monitoring online chat rooms.

“That’s how information is getting across,” he said.

Brown said he didn’t worry about his surfing habits coming under scrutiny, and said he never checked out books from the library.

Librarian’s view

Bruce Flanders, director of the Lawrence Public Library, said librarians are torn today between wanting to follow the law and wanting to protect patrons’ confidentiality.

“It’s surprising how little legal protection people have in terms of privacy,” he said.

So far, the FBI hasn’t come knocking with a court order, Flanders said. If they did, he probably would comply.

“I can tell you for a fact that we have not been approached by the FBI or by a law enforcement agency under the provisions of the Patriot Act,” Flanders said. “If we had been, I couldn’t tell you.”