[Montfort]

I didn't realize that you had a Constitutional right to privacy about the books you check out from a PUBLIC library. I mean, perhaps it would be a nice idea, but that does not mean it is in the Constitition.

I mean, it used to be common that your name stayed in the book, and someone could check it out a few years later and see, "Oh, look, my friend John Hoosits checked this book out five years ago. Isn't that neat."

[eno_]

Before you go on, you might want to check which of the following is true:

a) The Constitution enumerates your rights.

b) The Constitution enumerates the powers of the federal government, and anything not explicitly authorized by the Constitution is a right/power retained by states and individuals.

[John Beresford Tipton]

The legal issue boils down not to the patron's rights, but because the records are the records of the library, it is the right of that institution that are in question.

The fourth amendment protects the library from having to fork over its records without a warrant, issued on probable cause.