Library Roundup

Part of the training every librarian receives as they work towards their master’s degree is the importance of maintaining the privacy of our patrons. The American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights affirms that “All people, regardless of origin, age, background, or views, possess a right to privacy and confidentiality in their library use. Libraries should advocate for, educate about, and protect people’s privacy, safeguarding all library use data, including personally identifiable information.”

Sometimes our commitment to privacy becomes a little inconvenient. We’ll occasionally have patrons ask us about the name of a book they checked out last year or how many titles they brought back to the library during their previous visit, and we have to tell them that this is information we simply don’t keep track of. While we do offer the ability for patrons to opt in to keeping track of their checkout history, this is information that could potentially be subpoenaed and used against them. In a world where every online interaction is monitored and every data point about an individual is sold and used for advertising, we’re proud to serve as a respite, granting as much privacy as we can.

Library takes steps to ensure privacy of patrons

Not everyone realizes this, but another way we try to ensure privacy is by requiring library cards. Even if you’re the kind of person who doesn’t care if other folks know what you read, there are some people who want to keep their reading habits private. Because of that, we don’t share the titles of books we’re holding for individuals or check them out to others, even if they’re family members.

If you’ve ever used one of our public computers, you may have noticed that we provide privacy screens to block any watchful eyes with ill intent from being able to see what is being done. Our public computers also have special software to reduce the likelihood of patrons leaving behind any personal information. All login information and browser history is cleared when the browser is closed and the session ends; however, we still highly recommend that patrons maintain best practices of manually logging off any website they log on to at the end of their session, and if downloading files is necessary, to do that onto their own flash drive. Furthermore, our computers are regularly restored from an older version to guarantee that even if someone finds a way around our security, traces of their use will not stay for long.

We recognize that there are times when it might be more convenient for us to have less commitment to maintaining the privacy of our community members, but it is something we truly care about. If you ever have questions regarding the privacy of our patrons, please feel free to ask one of our librarians. We’re always happy to answer questions!