Introduction:
Multnomah County Library protects the privacy of library users by keeping confidential their personally identifiable information (address, telephone number, email address, birth date) ) as well as any information about materials borrowed, questions asked, resources consulted or services requested. The library does not release this information to any third party, including law enforcement agencies, except as required by law.
The director of libraries is custodian of library records. All requests for records, from law enforcement, the public, the press or any other source must be forwarded to the Director's Office. The director of libraries or director’s designee consults with the Office of the Multnomah County Attorney before deciding the appropriate response to records requests.
Periodically, the library receives records requests from law enforcement officials. Sometimes the request is posed to staff at one of our public service locations. Follow this procedure if you are asked for library records by a law enforcement officer.
Procedure for Line Staff
- Take a deep breath and relax. There is no need to feel intimidated or defensive.
- Refer the officer/agent to your supervisor or the Person In Charge if they are available.
If a supervisor or PIC is not available, follow the procedures below:
- Ask politely to see the officer/agent's identification. Write down the badge number, the name of the law enforcement agency, the officer/agent's name and telephone number(s). If possible, get a business card. You will need these for your incident report.
- If the officer/agent makes a request for library records or needs information about how to request library records, tell them that you are required by library policy to refer all such requests to the Library Director's Office. Provide this address and phone number:
Multnomah County Library Operations Center
221 NE 122nd Avenue
Portland, OR 97230
503-988-5403
Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm
Almost all law enforcement requests for information-including verbal requests, subpoenas and court orders--can wait for action by the library director, in consultation with the County Attorney. The only exception is a search warrant, which is immediately executable and therefore requires the immediate attention of the director of libraries or her designee. If you are handed a search warrant, and there is no supervisor or PIC present in the building, follow the instructions for search warrants in the Supervisor/PIC procedures for handling law enforcement requests below.
A sample subpoena and search warrant are appended to this procedure.
- Requests for information other than library records: Sometimes a law enforcement officer may ask you for information that does not relate to library records. For example, you may be shown a photograph and asked if you have seen the person in the library. Looking at the photo and answering the question, if you feel comfortable doing so, is not against library policy. You may answer questions about behavior you observed while the person was in the library, provided your answer does not reveal details about the person's use of specific library resources or their information requests. If you are in doubt about whether it is appropriate to answer a question, get advice from a PIC, supervisor, the director of libraries or director's designee.
- After receiving any type of law enforcement request for information, even an informal conversation, write an incident report, detailing:
- Date, time and location
- Your name
- Name, contact info and identification of the officer/agent
- Specifics regarding any information the officer/agent requested or inquired about.
- Send your incident report to your supervisor and Maddelyn High in the Library Director's Office. Maddelyn is responsible for logging all such requests and keeping track of their disposition.
- Some law enforcement requests issued under the USA PATRIOT Act come with a "gag order" that prohibits the recipient from disclosing information about the request. The agent serving the request is required to tell the library if a gag order is in effect. In such an instance, the County Attorney advises that you protect yourself by discussing the request only with your supervisor, the director of libraries or the director's designees for handling law enforcement requests, or the County Attorney. Please keep in mind that the local FBI office has assured us that they would bring any such order to the Library Director's Office first, so it is very unlikely that you would ever be the one to receive this type of request.
Supervisor and PIC Procedure for Handling Requests for Information at Library Public Service Agencies
- Take a deep breath and relax. There is no need to feel intimidated or defensive.
- Ask politely to see the officer/agent's identification. Write down the badge number, the name of the law enforcement agency, the officer/agent's name and telephone number(s). If possible, get a business card. You will need these for your incident report.
- If the officer/agent makes a request for library records or needs information about how to request library records, tell them that you are required by library policy to refer all law enforcement requests for information to the director of libraries.
Provide this address and phone number:
Multnomah County Library Operations
221 NE 122nd Avenue
Portland, OR 97230
503-988-5403
Office Hours are Monday through Friday, 8 am to 4:30 pm.
If you need assistance while the officer/agent is in the building, call the Director's Office number above. The director or one of her designees for handling law enforcement requests will assist you:
- Annie Lewis, Library Director
- Stephen Houser, Deputy Director
- Kirby McCurtis, Location Services Director
- Shawn Cunningham, Public Communications Manager
Almost all law enforcement requests for information-including verbal requests, subpoenas and court orders--can wait for action by the director of libraries, in consultation with the County Attorney. The only exception is a search warrant, which is immediately executable and therefore requires the immediate attention of the director of libraries or her designee. If you are handed a search warrant, follow the instructions for search warrants below.
Here are a sample subpoena and a sample search warrant.
- Requests for information other than library records: Sometimes a law enforcement officer may ask for information that does not relate to library records. For example, they may want to show staff a photograph and ask if they have seen the person in the library. Looking at the photo and answering the question, if the staff member feels comfortable doing so, is not against library policy. They may answer questions about behavior they observed while the person was in the library, provided their answer does not reveal details about the person's use of specific library resources or their information requests. If you are in doubt about whether it is appropriate to answer a question, get advice from the library director or the director's designee.
- After receiving any type of law enforcement request for information, even an informal conversation, write an incident report, detailing:
- Date, time and location
- Your name
- Name, contact info and identification of the officer/agent
- Specifics regarding any information the officer/agent requested or inquired about.
- Send your incident report to your supervisor and Maddelyn High in the Library Director's Office. Maddelyn is responsible for logging all such requests and keeping track of their disposition.
- Some law enforcement requests issued under the USA PATRIOT Act come with a "gag order" that prohibits the recipient from disclosing information about the request. The agent serving the request is required to tell the library if a gag order is in effect. In such an instance, the County Attorney advises that you protect yourself by discussing the request only with your supervisor, the library director or the director's designees for handling law enforcement requests or the County Attorney. Please keep in mind that the local FBI office has assured us that they would bring any such order to the Library Director's Office first, so it is very unlikely that you will be the one to receive this type of request.
Search Warrants
It is very unlikely you will ever have to deal with a search warrant. Multnomah County Library has never been served with a search warrant. This information is provided to assist you in the very unlikely event you are ever presented with a search warrant in the course of your library duties.
A search warrant is a court order issued by a judge or magistrate. It may come from a federal, state or local court. Search warrants are immediately executable. Law enforcement authorities may insist on executing a search warrant without first giving you time to contact the director of libraries. However, staff in charge should always explain to the officer serving the warrant that the director of libraries is the custodian of all library records and ask for time to call the director before the warrant is executed. In many cases, this delay will be granted. Ideally the director (or her designee) and the County Attorney or designee will be on site before the warrant is executed. However, all PICs and supervisors should familiarize themselves with the full search warrant procedure to be prepared for what to do if law enforcement cannot or will not wait.
In the very unlikely event you are served with a search warrant, these are your responsibilities as a county and library employee:
- Adopt a neutral attitude. Be courteous and non-obstructive. Follow the direct orders of the officer executing the search warrant.
- Ask politely to see the officer/agent's identification. Write down the badge number, the name of the law enforcement agency, the officer/agent's name and telephone number(s). If possible, get a business card. The director of libraries or her designee will need this information in order to verify authenticity.
- Explain that the director of libraries is custodian of all library records, and that you must inform the director of the warrant. Request that the agent/officer-in-charge delay, if possible, in executing the warrant until the director or her designee and the County Attorney are on site. If they are willing to delay, escort the officers to a private place to wait, if possible.
- Ask for a copy of the search warrant and its affidavit. The search warrant is essential, because the search must comply with its terms. The affidavit may or may not be available. Be prepared to email or fax these to the Library Director's Office and the County Attorney if requested.
Library Administration fax: 503-988-4532
County Attorney fax: 503-988-3377
- Call the Library Director's Office at 503-988-5403, during regular business hours (M-F, 8 am to 5 pm). The director or one of her designees will come to your location to assist you. If the warrant is served on an evening or weekend, call the Central Library PIC at 503-969-3839. Current contact info for the director and her designees is kept in the Central PIC notebook and is linked below.
Use this contact information if you need assistance from the director or one of her designees outside office hours.
- The library director or her designee will take over from here.
- In some instances, law enforcement personnel may not be willing or able to wait before executing a search warrant. In the unlikely event that you are the senior member of the library staff in charge during the execution of a search warrant, your responsibilities are:
- Direct other staff members to continue with their normal duties, unless you need someone to assist you.
- Attempt to verify the identity of the officers/agents by calling the local headquarters of their parent agency :
Portland Police Bureau: 503-823-0000
Multnomah County Sheriff: 503-255-3600
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Portland: 503-224-4181
Federal Marshall Service, Portland: 503-326-2209
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) Seattle: 206-389-5800
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Portland: 503-326-3371
- If the officer/agent is from an agency not on this list, don't use a phone number given you by the officer. Look it up.
- Read the warrant. Verify that it is signed. Note the terms of the warrant. What records, equipment or other items are specified?
- Do not consent to any broadening of the search. If an officer asks for permission to search for anything not specifically listed in the search warrant, do not give your verbal consent to do so.
- You may help the agents/officers locate the items or records named in the warrant, but you are not required to verify their authenticity.
- If possible, ask another staff member to take notes of any questions asked, areas searched and any items or records seized.
- The officers/agents are required to give you an inventory of all items seized. Do not sign anything verifying the contents or accuracy.
- Do not obstruct the search in any way.
- If the law enforcement officials are unwilling to cooperate with you, simply step aside and let them do their job.
- Complete a detailed incident report and submit it to the Library Director’s Office.