NewsOK.com | Library Internet registries protected

NewsOK.com | Library Internet registries protected: "Registries that patrons sign before using public library computers to access the Internet must be kept confidential under most circumstances, Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson said in an opinion issued Thursday.

Susan McVey, director of the Oklahoma State Department of Libraries, asked for the opinion after police sought access to registry information from an Enid library.

Police in February asked the Public Library of Enid and Garfield County to retain computer log-in sheets for two years and require users to present identification when signing in. Police said sexual predators may have used library computers to set up meetings with underage targets.

Most libraries already kept such registries confidential, and many simply threw sheets away after one page was filled, said Bill Young, spokesman for the state Department of Libraries.

'Because of the request by the police department in Enid and the controversy up there, we thought we had better ask the attorney general for a clarification,' Young said."

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