Despite a Tuesday letter demanding the Washington Free Beacon unpublish an audio recording of Hillary Clinton, the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville has no plans for further action against the conservative news outlet that broke library rules by not requesting permission to publish material from UA library special collections.

"There's no next step for us," said university spokesman Laura Jacobs. "We can't force anyone to take anything down off their website."

If the Free Beacon, an online news source, filled out a "permission to publish" form, Jacobs said the university "would reinstate their research privileges and allow them to use the materials," including publishing of the Clinton audio.

The news outlet has stated through its attorney that it will not comply with the university demand letter.

The Free Beacon on Sunday published audio of Clinton speaking, and sometimes laughing, about her role as a court-appointed attorney in a 1970s child rape case, with several other news outlets then referencing the audio.

The university had duplicated the Clinton recording from the Roy Reed library collection onto CD for the Free Beacon. Reed, a well-known Arkansas journalist, had interviewed Clinton in the 1980s for a profile that was never published.

On Thursday, the Free Beacon reported its suspension from accessing UA special materials. University officials did not comment on the Free Beacon initially, citing a state law protecting the confidentiality of library patrons, but on Friday said the conservative news outlet had waived its confidentiality.

In a written statement Friday defending its library practices as commonplace, the university notes a February letter apprising the Free Beacon that it must follow library policy if it accessed special collections materials again. The Free Beacon had used special collections material for a previous story.

"The issue is that this media outlet failed to comply with standard library policies followed across the nation. If the Washington Free Beacon can agree to follow the library's rules, the same rules practiced by all other patrons, then we will reinstate its research privileges. This isn't an issue about withholding information, the bottom line is they failed to obtain permission to publish copyrighted material," according to the Friday statement, attributed to university libraries.

Materials UA released Friday to the Democrat-Gazette include correspondence that accompanied the release of audio -- including apparently the Clinton audio -- mailed in March.

"If you do wish to publish, you are required to complete and return the 'Permission to Publish Request Form,'" an email from UA to Shawn Reinschmiedt states, though it's unclear what relationship Reinschmiedt has to the Free Beacon.

The written statement Friday says the university has "never denied a permission to publish for a patron."

Erika Dowell, associate director of Lilly Library at Indiana University in Bloomington, said library permission requirements relating to publication are common. She said she was unaware of any library going so far as to suspend a researcher for not following such a requirement, however.

"It seems like a pretty serious response that I would imagine many libraries would approach probably in a more measured way," Dowell said.

The written statement Friday from UA singles out the Free Beacon as the only organization to not follow UA rules about requesting permission before publishing special library materials.

Dowell said that while researchers at Indiana University libraries are required to submit such permission requests, "the bottom line is that there's no way to know if everybody who does research at your institution really does that."

NW News on 06/21/2014