ORDER TO DESTROY PAMPHLETS CANCELED

US Alters Demand to Its Libraries

The Government Printing Office has rescinded a week-old order that
libraries nationwide destroy five US Department of Justice pamphlets.

The office announced the decision in a letter sent yesterday to about
1,300 libraries across the country.

Last week, the printing office invoked its authority to order the
removal of the pamphlets, which provide instructions about prosecuting
asset forfeiture cases. A Justice Department spokesman said in an
interview that the material was meant for internal use and not for
public distribution.

Judith C. Russell, superintendent of documents at the Government
Printing Office, signed last week's and yesterday's letters. Reached
at her Washington office late yesterday afternoon, she declined to
comment.

Veronica Meter, director of public relations for the office, said the
office received word late yesterday afternoon from the Justice
Department asking that the earlier request be rescinded.

Asked whether the Justice Department made a fuller explanation for its
earlier request, Meter said she could only quote from yesterday's
letter that the Justice Department had made a determination, after
review, that the pamphlets were "not sufficiently sensitive to
require removal."

The pamphlets had been sent to the 1,300 libraries designated by
Congress to make available copies of virtually all federal government
documents. The pamphlets were written by the Justice Department's
Office of Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering.

Casey Stavropoulos, a Justice Department spokeswoman, did not return
calls seeking comment.

The Justice Department's decision to order the pamphlets destroyed
drew criticism from Patrice McDermott, deputy director of governmental
affairs for the American Library Association, and Bernard A. Margolis,
president of the Boston Public Library, one of the libraries ordered
to destroy the pamphlets.

"I'm thrilled," he said. "I think our concerns have been heard that
when material is placed in the depository system for access by
citizens that it should stay there."

Last week, the American Library Association wrote to members of the US
Senate and US House Judiciary Committees, saying, "We are gratified
that [the government] has realized that information that is legally
available to the public should remain so."