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You said, "OK, how would YOU write the policy, keeping in mind it needs to be logical, legal and impervious to lawsuits, not simply "me thinks the dumb liberal library ladies should give out any information the gubmint wants, no questions asked"."

Good. We're getting away from the irrelevant hypotheticals and getting back to the facts.

Now I'm no legislative expert. But I do see that Steiner, the head librarian, did an on-the-fly amendment, so to speak. Now if these laws are truly written to be inclusive, then they should all be amended to account for the fiasco that happened in this story. Again I'll bet that won't happen--the ALA goals would not allow for that.

But I do see that Steiner, the head librarian, did an on-the-fly amendment, so to speak.

I hate to turn this into a remedial reading class but please read the policy again, the very policy you've quoted several times. The head librarian made no such "on-the-fly amendment". She followed the policy as written, which clearly states that information can be disclosed, without a subpoena or court order, "to a law enforcement officer who is investigating a matter involving public safety in exigent circumstances".