Recalled Government Papers Prompt Librarian Protest, Then Reversal.

This article looks at the recall of government papers from libraries and how the protest of librarians reversed the government's position. The controversy began after the DOJ requested through the GPO's Superintendent of Documents that five documents distributed on civil and criminal asset forfeiture procedures were to be withdrawn and destroyed immediately, as they are intended for internal use only. The documents were Civil and Criminal Forfeiture Procedure, Select Criminal Forfeiture Forms, Select Federal Asset Forfeiture Statutes, Asset forfeiture and Money Laundering Resource Directory, and Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000 (CAFRA). Librarians, however, launched a campaign to reverse the order and the American Library Association (ALA) submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, asking why DOJ requested that documents that have been available for as long as four years be removed. Boston Public Library president Bernie Margolis, in a statement on the ALA Council electronic list, said he had asked that the decision be reconsidered and noted that he had copied the documents for cataloging as part of BPL's collection. Though DOJ officials said that the materials were inappropriately distributed to depository libraries through an error, Superintendent of Documents Judith Russell noted that the agency determined that these materials are "not sufficiently sensitive to require removal from the depository library system."