The Library Awareness Program operated in secret during the 80's and sought to collect those records. Section 215 of the Patriot Act expired in May 2015, but t

The Library Awareness Program operated in secret during the 80's and sought to collect those records. Section 215 of the Patriot Act expired in May 2015, but there is great interest in reauthorizing the rights granted to the federal government from that section. For 14 years, the government had the right to track your library usage and issue gag orders to librarians involved. To say they destroy those records would be an oversimplification. Fighting the government is hard when you're issued a warrant from a secret court and are facing serious prison time for not obeying it.