Today's Lesson:

[kalibex]

"The UMass Dartmouth student who claimed to have been visited by Homeland Security agents over his request for "The Little Red Book" by Mao Zedong has admitted to making up the entire story.

"The 22-year-old student tearfully admitted he made the story up to his history professor, Dr. Brian Glyn Williams, and his parents, after being confronted with the inconsistencies in his account."

Comments

[antikythera.livejournal.com]

Dude.

They're talking about the student like he's some poor misunderstood kid, but he's 22. I'd like to hear what he has to say for himself, instead of a cover story from his professor.

[kalibex.livejournal.com]

"This is from the blog maintained by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), who are the folks who know the most about anything going on with college or university libraries. UMass Dartmouth issued a statement providing reassurance that the library did not participate in violating the student's rights. The student requested the book through another library, not UMass Dartmouth's. The author of the blog entry checked UMass Dartmouth's ILL form and discovered it doesn't ask for social security number."

Lots of inconsistencies indeed are cropping up in this story. In any case...UMass Dartmouth has a policy of not using identifying info. in ILL requests that would link a specific patron to his request.

I somehow doubt that the other library did, either. Librarians in general having strong feelings about patron right to privacy, and having been among the first to stand up against the mere concept of Patriot Act abuses in reference to libraries.