図書館利用者のプライバシーの権利

一図書館に対する捜査機関の介入との関連でー

抄録

　The ‘Declaration of Freedom in Library' (published by the Japan Library Association in 1979) includes the ‘Observance of Secret of Library Users' as one of its items which libraries put in practice. This is a Sign that librarians have determined to protect the right of the library users' privacy.
　The concept of the right of privacy is not always definite because it is not expressed in the Contsitution of Japan except when it applies to all spheres of the citizens' private lives.
　In this article, I attempt to review two concepts of the right. One is the right of privacy (the right to control the circulation of information concerning the library users), and the other is the freedom to read (the right of free access to all books and newspapers in libraries).
　In recent years, the police hase been making inquiries into library recorods investigating the book reading figures and the information about the readers on the grounds of criminal investigations, most often on the basis of the Criminal Procedure Code Article 197, Clause 2. Therefore, I try to make clear that, according to the Code, the libraries are not under the obligation to cooperate with the police investigators, if the violation of human rights is involved and the privacy of the library users is not defended.