Secrecy?

Even though librarians (and I!) are huge promoters of the Freedom to Information, I tend to disagree on this one. The reason for government secrecy is to keep our citizens alive and safe. Can you imagine what destruction the terrorists can cause if they knew the information that the government officials know? There is a reason behind all of this secrecy. A method to their madness, so to speak.

In another post, Sarah, you mentioned that librarians have an underlying responsibility to fight for this information for their patrons? As much as we would like to provide our patrons with everything they ask for, we are sometimes not allowed to give that information. For instance, if they came in and wanted to know what the patron before them asked and what info we gave, we cannot disclose that information (even though it goes against the Freedom of Information forum).

At the local level (such as the small library I work at), we are more worried about the lack of funds to run the building we have that is falling apart than bigger things such as what the government is keeping from us.