American Library Association: Library Bill of Rights Article Draft Update, Comments Due by December 21, 2018
From ACRL Update:
The, which reviewed all documents in preparation for the next edition of the Intellectual Freedom Manual, recommended consideration of updating the Library Bill of Rights in a narrow manner to add an Article VII focused on the concept of ensuring privacy and confidentiality for library users.
Article III of the Code of Ethics includes the protection of the library users’ privacy and confidentiality as a responsibility of library staff’s professional responsibilities; however, the right of library users to privacy and confidentiality is not included in the Library Bill of Rights.
The Code of Ethics provides ethical guidance to library staff, while the Library Bill of Rights does not specifically include privacy and confidentiality among its articles described as “basic policies” which should govern the services of all libraries.
When adopted as policy by a library’s governing body, the Library Bill of Rights can represent the library’s promise to the user.
In an era of big data, Facebook revelations, and tenuous privacy protections and data security, the Library Bill of Rights should be amended to include the expectation (and promise) that libraries protect users’ privacy and maintain the confidentiality and security of their personally identifiable information.
Read the Complete Announcement, Learn Where to Read Draft and Provide Feedback
See Also: Current Version of the Library Bill of Rights
Filed under: Associations and Organizations, Data Files, Libraries, News, Patrons and Users
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.