Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do (Read Serials)

Abstract

Ms. Dorothea Salo, Faculty Associate at the School of Library & Information Studies of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, argued passionately and cogently about the obligation of librarians to protect the privacy of patrons using electronic serials and the data generated from that usage. Libraries should forcefully express their concerns to vendors of such resources about their collection and commercialization of user data and should stipulate provisions in their contracts and licensing agreements to prevent such misuse of patron’s personal information.

KEYWORDS:

• American Library Association Code of Ethics Article Three
• confidentiality
• data protection
• e-books
• electronic resources
• library patrons
• library users
• privacy
• serials

Notes

^1. American Library Association, Code of Ethics of the American Library Association (Chicago: American Library Association, 2008), http://www.ala.org/advocacy/proethics/codeofethics/codeethics (accessed October 16, 2015).

^2. Federal Trade Commission, “Internet of Things: Privacy & Security in a Connected World” (Washington, DC: Federal Trade Commission, January 2015), https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/federal-trade-commission-staff-report-november-2013-workshop-entitled-internet-things-privacy/150127iotrpt.pdf (accessed October 16, 2015).

^3. Ibid., 55.

^4. Sarah Halzack, “Privacy Advocates Try to Keep ‘Creepy,’ ‘Eavesdropping’ Hello Barbie from Hitting Shelves,” Washington Post, March 11, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2015/03/11/privacy-advocates-try-to-keep-creepy-eavesdropping-hello-barbie-from-hitting-shelves/ (accessed October 16, 2015).

^5. Trina Magi, “A Content Analysis of Library Vendor Privacy Policies: Do They Meet Our Stand?” College & Research Libraries, 71, no. 3 (2010): 254–272, http://crl.acrl.org/content/71/3/254.full.pdf+html (accessed October 16, 2015), doi:10.5860/0710254.

^6. Ibid., 267.

^7. Ibid., 270.

^8. Eric Hellman, “16 of the Top 20 Research Journals Let Ad Networks Spy on Their Readers,” Go to Hellman Blog, March 12, 2015, http://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2015/03/16-of-top-20-research-journals-let-ad.html (accessed October 16, 2015).

^9. Ibid.

^10. National Information Standards Organization, “Consensus Framework to Support Patron Privacy of Digital Library and Information Systems,” http://www.niso.org/topics/tl/patron_privacy/ (accessed October 16, 2015).

^11. Ibid.

^12. Ibid.

^13. Joe Silver, “Google Ends ‘Creepy’ Practice of Scanning Gmail Education Apps,” Ars Technica Website, April 30, 2014, http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/04/google-ends-creepy-practice-of-scanning-gmail-education-apps/ (accessed October 16, 2015).

^14. Library Freedom Project, “Library Freedom Project,” https://libraryfreedomproject.org (accessed October 16, 2015).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dorothea Salo

Dorothea Salo is a Faculty Associate at the School of Library & Information Studies of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Stephen Kharfen

Stephen Kharfen is a cataloger.