The Brent decision hinged on the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act, which says local authorities must provide a "comprehensive and efficient library service", and may determine how far other local authorities can go with their planned closures.
Prison library management at regional level exists only in very few places, leaving the majority of prison staff running institutional libraries with no option but to act on their own.
All the Patriot Act did was make business records (including those maintained by libraries) available on roughly the same terms in national security cases as they have long been in criminal cases.