Roy Tennant\’s Digital Libraries column in LJ this month, Patriotism
As If Our Constitution Matters, serves as another reminder
that in this day and age, to safeguard the
privacy of users, the collection and storage of any personally
identifying information (PII) should be done only to ensure the
operation of the library.
Roy Tennant\’s Digital Libraries column in LJ this month, Patriotism
As If Our Constitution Matters, serves as another reminder
that in this day and age, to safeguard the
privacy of users, the collection and storage of any personally
identifying information (PII) should be done only to ensure the
operation of the library.
All libraries should have formal privacy policies based on
this principle. For example, since you don\’t need to know who
checked a book out six months ago, that information shouldn\’t be
kept, nor should old ILL requests (by name), personalized
settings, Internet
signups, or computer access
logs. The release of PII to third parties should only ever be
done in compliance with a court order (barring any acts of civil
disobedience, or you could reserve the right to voluntarily
disclose any PII to any person or organization when your
executive officer reasonably decides that an emergency situation
involving immediate danger justifies it). All library employees
should have access to an official policy and instructions
regarding the response to subpoenas, search warrants, or other
requests for information.
If your library is missing such policies, here are some sample library privacy policies on the Web for modeling, plus you
should consider review by a lawyer before adopting an official
policy. The ALA site also has several patron
privacy
resources,
including some Suggested
Procedures for Implementing "Policy on Confidentiality of Library
Records".
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