User privacy in the digital library environment: an investigation of policies and preparedness
| Pages | 44-50 |
| Date | 01 February 2003 |
| Published date | 01 February 2003 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120310454502 |
| Author | Paul Sturges,Eric Davies,James Dearnley,Ursula Iliffe,Charles Oppenheim,Rachel Hardy |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
Userprivacyinthe
digitallibrary
environment:an
investigationofpolicies
andpreparedness
PaulSturges,EricDavies,
JamesDearnley,UrsulaIliffe,
CharlesOppenheimand
RachelHardy
Introduction
Theswifttechnicaldevelopmentof
informationandcommunicationtechnologies
(ICT)andconsumertake-uphas,ontheone
hand,beenthemajorsourceofpositive
economicandsocialchangeinthelast
decade,buthas,ontheotherhand,raised
manyseriousconcerns.Nottheleastofthese
isageneralfearoverthethreatstopersonal
privacythattheuseofICTspose(Blendonet
al.,2001).Thisfearhasobviousimplications
forlibrariesassomanyofthemmovetowards
hybridorfullydigitalstatus.Inresponseto
thistheLegalandPolicyResearchGroupat
LoughboroughUniversity'sDepartmentof
InformationSciencecarriedoutaseriesof
investigationsbetweenJune2000and
December2001.This``PrivacyintheDigital
LibraryEnvironment''projectwasfundedby
Re:source(theUKCouncilonMuseums,
LibrariesandArchives).Thefollowingisan
accountofthefindingsoftheresearch,which
developsthethemespreviouslyoutlinedin
Sturgesetal.(2001).
Theproblem
Librarianshavecollectedinformationabout
individuals,aslongastherehavebeen
libraries.Detailssuchasusers'namesand
addresses,status(e.g.junior/adult,members
oftheorganisationorexternalusers,etc.),
entitlementstoborrow,andborrowing
recordsareroutinelycollected.Thisdatais
frequentlycollatedasanonymised
managementstatisticson,forexample,the
numberofusers,averagenumberofitems
borrowedanditemsoverdue.However,
librarians,whosereputationisashoarders
andprotectorsofinformationmaterials,have
actuallytendedtobelittleconcernedwiththe
historicalarchivesoftheirownservices.
DespitetheimplicationsofasurveyofBritish
publiclibraries20yearsago(Sturges,1983),
whichshowedfewerthanhalfofthosethat
respondedhadcoherentpoliciesand
practices,thisisstillregardedasaproblemin
Britaintoday(BlackandPurcell,2001).This
lackofattentiontopolicyandarchivingfor
historicalpurposesfollowsfromconfusion
overthekeepingofsemicurrentrecordsfor
immediatepracticaluse.Forinstance,a
majorcomparativestudyofstates'records
lawsintheUSA(Wiegand,1994)revealed
Theauthors
PaulSturges,EricDavies,JamesDearnley,
UrsulaIliffe,CharlesOppenheim,andRachelHardy
aremembersoftheLegalandPolicyResearchGroup,
DepartmentofInformationScience,Loughborough
University,UK.E-mail:R.P.Sturges@lboro.ac.uk
Keywords
Libraries,Privacy,Libraryusers,Ethics,Dataprotection
Abstract
Withdigitaltechnologylibrariescanarchiveconsiderable
resourcesofdetailedinformationabouttheirusers.This
dataisgenerallyregardedasconfidentialbetweenthe
libraryandtheindividual,butithaspotentialinterestfor
commercialorganisations,lawenforcementandsecurity
agencies,andlibrariesthemselves,toassistinmarketing
theirservices.ThePrivacyintheDigitalLibraryEnvironment
projectatLoughboroughUniversity,2000-2002,
investigatedtheissuesthisraises.Findingssuggestedthat
usershadlowlevelsofanxietyaboutprivacywhenusing
libraries,butthiswasbecausetheyexpectedthatlibraries
wouldnotpassonpersonaldatatootherbodies.Librarians,
whilstrespectingprivacyasaprofessionalvalueinprinciple,
didnotgiveitahighratingagainstothervalues.
Additionally,asignificantminorityoflibrarieswasnotwell
preparedfordataprotection.Toassisttheprofessional
community,guidelinesforprivacypolicyweredrawnupon
thebasisofsuggestionsmadebysurveyrespondents.
Electronicaccess
TheEmeraldResearchRegisterforthisjournalis
availableat
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister
Thecurrentissueandfulltextarchiveofthisjournalis
availableat
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0143-5124.htm
44
Library Management
Volume 24 .Number 1/2 .2003 .pp. 44-50
#MCB UP Limited .ISSN 0143-5124
DOI 10.1108/01435120310454502
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