Faculty & Staff: Privacy in Libraries

In the November/December issue of Library Technology Reports, the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom has assembled an all-star cast of writers to explore the challenges to privacy that ongoing shifts in technology have created, and how librarians can address them.Topics Covered in this Issue: * Libraries, Technology, and the Culture of Privacy by Barbara M. Jones * User-Generated Content by Eli Neiburger * Internet Filtering by Sarah Houghton-Jan * Social Networking and the Library by Jason Griffey * RFID in Libraries by Deborah Caldwell-Stone

Libraries are in the thick of legal issues as new technologies add layers of complexity to everyday work in the library. How do you know what's legal? What can you do to identify and address issues before they turn into bona fide legal matters? Where do you turn for help? With coverage of all the issues of the day--filters, fair use, copyright, Web publishing and Internet use, software sharing, ADA compliance, free speech, privacy, access, and employment and liability issues--you will have a "librarian's J.D." in short order! Detailed and ready-to-apply answers to more than 600 legal questions will make this trouble-shooting guide your favorite quick-reference.

Personal data in the online world has become a commodity. Coveted by criminals, demanded by governments, and used for unsavory purposes by marketers and advertisers, your private information is at risk everywhere. For libraries and librarians, this poses a professional threat as well as a personal one. How can we protect the privacy of library patrons and users who browse our online catalogs, borrow sensitive materials, and use our public computers and networks? User Privacy: A Practical Guide for Librarians answers that question. Through simple explanations and detailed, step-by-step guides, library professionals will learn how to strengthen privacy protections for: Library policies Wired and wireless networks Public computers Web browsers Mobile devices Apps Cloud computing Each chapter begins with a "threat assessment" that provides an overview of the biggest security risks - and the steps that can be taken to deal with them. Also covered are techniques for preserving online anonymity, protecting activists and at-risk groups, and the current state of data encryption.

Libraries are not exempt from the financial costs of data breaches or leaks, no matter the size. Whether from a library worker unwittingly sharing a patron's address with a perpetrator of domestic violence to leaving sensitive patron data unprotected, patrons can also pay a hefty price when libraries fail to manage patron data securely and ethically. In this guide, readers will learn concrete action steps for putting the ethical management of data into practice, following two common public and academic library cumulative case studies. The authors explore such key topics as succinct summaries of major U.S. laws and other regulations and standards governing patron data management; information security practices to protect patrons and libraries from common threats; how to navigate barriers in organizational culture when implementing data privacy measures; sources for publicly available, customizable privacy training material for library workers; the data life cycle from planning and collecting to disposal; how to conduct a data inventory; understanding the associated privacy risks of different types of library data; why the current popular model of library assessment can become a huge privacy invasion; addressing key topics while keeping your privacy policy clear and understandable to patrons; and data privacy and security provisions to look for in vendor contracts.

Although privacy is one of the core tenets of librarianship, technology changes have made it increasingly difficult for libraries to ensure the privacy of their patrons in the 21st century library. This authoritative LITA Guide offers readers guidance on a wide range of topics, including * Foundations of privacy in libraries * Data collection, retention, use, and protection * Laws and regulations * Privacy instruction for patrons and staff * Contracts with third parties * Use of in-house and internet tools including social network sites, surveillance video, and RFID

The newest edition of the Intellectual Freedom Manual is more than simply an update of a foundational text that has served as a crucial resource for more than four decades. It is a living document that serves as the authoritative reference for day-to-day guidance on maintaining free and equal access to information for all people. Whether you're developing or revising policies, on-boarding new staff or trustees, responding to challenges and controversies, or studying librarianship, you'll find this an indispensable resource, with features such as ALA policy statements, approved by committees and Council, articulating core intellectual freedom principles and best practices; 8 new interpretations of the Library Bill of Rights, which address urgent issues like internet filtering, public performances, political activity, religion, and equity, diversity, and inclusion; "Issues at a Glance" sidebars which present key concepts, points of law, tips, and questions for reflection; expanded content about developing library policies that support intellectual freedom; updated information on censorship of library programs, displays, and databases; "Advocacy and Assistance," a section offering concrete guidance when you're called on to talk to the media or meet with legislators; Deeper Look essays which examine the laws related to library operations; advice on when to call the police, when not to, and how to handle personally identifiable information when they arrive; and an expanded glossary.

This easy-to-use core reference takes on the biggest issue of our day: freedom of speech in post-9/11 America. No issue is more important to Americans--and especially to librarians--than the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act is one of the longest, broadest, most sweeping pieces of legislation in American history. It introduced a vast edifice of domestic surveillance that has defined the post-9/11 world. But the legislation itself is so massive and technical that both supporters and critics have been free to interpret it loosely and in partisan fashion. Supporters of the Patriot Act believe that 9/11 irreversibly changed American politics and law enforcement, forcing every citizen to cede some traditional civil liberties in order to protect the nation from terrorism. Critics respond that many provisions of the Patriot Act were simply resurrected from old FBI wish lists, having no relevance to the war on terror and providing little security in exchange for precious liberties. This book will not silence the raging debate over the Patriot Act, but by presenting relevant source documents, analyzed and placed in context, it may provide a more reliable basis for the ongoing debate.

A prize-winning poet and author of Savage Grace traces the FBI's history of treading on the first amendment with accounts of how the organization intimidated writers and hired librarians as spies.

The battle between an individual's right to privacy and the public's right to know has been fought for centuries. The founders demanded privacy for all the wrong press-quashing reasons. Supreme Court jus­tice Louis Brandeis famously promoted First Amend­ment freedoms but argued strongly for privacy too; and presidents from Thomas Jefferson through Don­ald Trump confidently hid behind privacy despite intense public interest in their lives. Today privacy seems simultaneously under siege and surging. And that's doubly dangerous, as legal expert Amy Gajda argues. Too little privacy leaves ordinary people vulnerable to those who deal in and publish soul-crushing secrets. Too much means the famous and infamous can cloak themselves in secrecy and dodge accountability. Seek and Hide carries us from the very start, when privacy concepts first entered American law and society, to now, when the law al­lows a Silicon Valley titan to destroy a media site like Gawker out of spite. Muckraker Upton Sinclair, like Nellie Bly before him, pushed the envelope of privacy and propriety and then became a privacy advocate when journalists used the same techniques against him. By the early 2000s we were on our way to today's full-blown crisis in the digital age, worrying that smartphones, webcams, basement publishers, and the forever internet had erased the right to privacy completely.