PROJECT DESCRIPTION

In response to this alarming trend, The Patriot Library (TPL) provides users with otherwise considered "dangerous" materials (including books, periodicals, the internet and multimedia about: Aviation Training, Bomb Making, Chemistry, Engineering, Maps/Navigation, Propaganda, Religion, Tactical Manuals, Tourist Information, and Weapons) with the user remaining completely anonymous.  TPL librarians limit the degree to which personally identifiable information is monitored, collected, and distributed. TPL keeps no written records that connect users with any information linked to TPL or TPL related resources. TPL users posses the right to openly inquire without having the subject of one’s interest examined or scrutinized by others. TPL opposes any governmental action (i..e. USA PATRIOT Act), which could lead to the intimidation of the individual user or the user group, or have a chilling affect on intellectual freedom.

“The Patriot Library” is a collaborative project between the artist collective Finishing School (FS) and librarian Christy Thomas. They are concerned with the implications of the USA PATRIOT Act and its secretive and equivocal applications as it directly affects our civil liberties.  Many have argued that the Patriot Act is “not anti-terrorism legislation; it’s anti-speech legislation” (Karen Schnieder, ala.org). The Patriot Library is a working research library that both provides service to the public and by design, critiques the 2001 USA PATRIOT Act, and how it threatens the ability of US libraries to protect and promote our freedom to read.