Privacy LIbrary Book Check Out

[Cypress]

A few weeks ago, I asked a question to SLN members about automated service check out rant or rave. I had so many replies! I am following up on automated library service and found out some interesting things for my article. The Worcester Public Library invested in automated drop off and check out if you want to use it. You can still have a person do that function. The Head Librarian said the number one issue for self check out is privacy. People want privacy when they check out. What am I missing? Why? I never thought of this before. Do you want privacy when you check out materials?

The other news was this library has two bookmobiles that visit elementary schools and five private schools once per month. They function as the school's library and librarian. The school doesn't offer the service. I was surprised. I do not have young children, nor have friends who do.

This library felt like a community center. Worcester has always had a large immigrant population. It still does. The library has support and courses in small business start up. ESL, GED and Citizenship classes. Talking book program for disabled patrons. A large database for genealogy search in Worcester and surrounding area. Extensive historical map and atlas collection for area. All kinds of meetings, outreach and more to the community. What a hopping place!

[bae]

My local library has a firm commitment to privacy. I like that.

[Miss Cellane]

My guess would be that "privacy" means that people don't want anyone to know what books they are checking out. They might be embarrassed to have a librarian see them with a book on what some people might consider a sensitive subject. For example, and I'm guessing here, books on sex, or politics, or something like that. If you know your librarians well, you might not want them to know you are checking out books on certain medical issues, or the like.

[bae]

My mother works as a volunteer at our library. I don't think I'm so keen on her seeing the books I check out.

[Cypress]

I may pursue this for my article. Why privacy? Why is that important to people? I never thought one way or the other. Perhaps because I live alone, it never occurred to me that friends, relatives or others might be curious and comment on what you are reading. Every item checked out is logged on the Library Card. The Head Librarian looked directly at me and said we take that very seriously.

Patrons are checking out books purchased with public money. The Library, the card and everything touched is funded by public funds, grants, donations or gifts. So, why is what is checked out private? Maybe I am being dense and haven't encountered in my life feeling it was private. So, what would happen if someone tried to tap that information? Who would be interested in acquiring this information and what might be done with it?

Data tends to be shared without our knowing about it. I think this is my angle, how does the library protect your information, why and what are the consequences if they don't.

Thanks so much. I love SLN members :)

[pinkytoe]

Here is a specific example: I had a recent health scare, female in origin and needed more information. I knew if I looked up info on the web that my supposed health condition might no longer be private. It would have been embarrassing to check out a book on the topic if I had to check it out with the friendly, male clerk who always comments on my books. I was grateful in this instance for the auto check option.

[kib]

Remember the old days, when you would open a library book and actually see everyone else who'd taken out the book on the card in the back? Talk about lack of privacy!

[iris lilies]

Remember the old days, when you would open a library book and actually see everyone else who'd taken out the book on the card in the back? Talk about lack of privacy!

It was a Great Leap Forward in the Library world when they started using card numbers rather than names. I'm not sure that I ever checked out a book using my name, except as a child in my tiny home town library or at school.

I started library work before circulation was automated. Back then, the first part of library automation took place digital with catalog records. Circulation (check out) came next.

[iris lilies]

I may pursue this for my article. Why privacy? Why is that important to people? I never thought one way or the other. Perhaps because I live alone, it never occurred to me that friends, relatives or others might be curious and comment on what you are reading. Every item checked out is logged on the Library Card. The Head Librarian looked directly at me and said we take that very seriously.

Patrons are checking out books purchased with public money. The Library, the card and everything touched is funded by public funds, grants, donations or gifts. So, why is what is checked out private? Maybe I am being dense and haven't encountered in my life feeling it was private. So, what would happen if someone tried to tap that information? Who would be interested in acquiring this information and what might be done with it?

Data tends to be shared without our knowing about it. I think this is my angle, how does the library protect your information, why and what are the consequences if they don't.

Thanks so much. I love SLN members :)

Privacy of user information is a very big deal. Libraries don't release user information such as books checked out, computer sessions books, websites visited, etc. unless required by a legal instrument. I want to say "court order" but I don't know if that's the right term.

To me it's just common sense that my own personal interests and research need not be accessible to others. Sure maybe I want to talk about the books I'm reading 95% of the time, but 5% of the time, nope.

[Alan]

Maybe I am being dense and haven't encountered in my life feeling it was private. So, what would happen if someone tried to tap that information? Who would be interested in acquiring this information and what might be done with it?

Information such as this has been used to 'Bork (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/borked)' another.

[Cypress]

OMG, all right, on my lunch hour, I am walking over to the public library and hope to check out The Right to Privacy by Caroline Kennedy and Ellen Alderman. I see I need to educate myself and not be such a simpleton. I did read over the Privacy Policy of this particular library, and it is by court order to access your information. But it reads like they take many steps to erase your information from the card history. I thought the info was stored next to your name or number. So, how do they find a book overdue? I'll ask how that is done.

The public access PC's are also wiped frequently of searches and who searched. I am being naive to think people won't take advantage of what your doing. Or, just it's none of anyone's business. But, yes I do remember seeing names in the back of library books. A few still have them.

[iris lilies]

OMG, all right, on my lunch hour, I am walking over to the public library and hope to check out The Right to Privacy by Caroline Kennedy and Ellen Alderman. I see I need to educate myself and not be such a simpleton. I did read over the Privacy Policy of this particular library, and it is by court order to access your information. But it reads like they take many steps to erase your information from the card history. I thought the info was stored next to your name or number. So, how do they find a book overdue? I'll ask how that is done.

The public access PC's are also wiped frequently of searches and who searched. I am being naive to think people won't take advantage of what your doing. Or, just it's none of anyone's business. But, yes I do remember seeing names in the back of library books. A few still have them.


Libraries are are going to keep a record of current checkouts. Once that link is broken between patron and book title when the book is returned, the checkout record will go away at some point. However, there are several exceptions to this. Overdue fine records for returned book MAY contain the title of a book/video/CD, depending on the library, the computer system they use, and the choices they've made in setting up their records.

There is also a patron initiated record of titles checked out, kept online by choice of the patron. For instance, I "turned on" this feature in October last year and now I have a listed on my account of everything I've checked out since last October. It has some value for those times when I am discussing a book I've read with someone and I can't remember the title.

[miradoblackwarrior]

As a public librarian, I can respond as well. Privacy is of key importance a to librarian. We are a special breed, who will fight for patron's rights. The famous Patriot Act is a case in point. You need a court order, yada, yada. But we also have two tiers of information, some of which is passworded by the head of the (usually Circulation) department. Also, our public computers are wiped clean after every patron logs out (in fact, we have automatic log outs if they haven't been used for a while, or we'll do it for you). We also have privacy screens, and a built in discretion on the part of our Reference staff.

Patrons can access their own records, if they sign up for it and use their pin-number (which is encoded, by the way). There are so many privacy safe-guards out there, and our staff is always looking for more. When all is said and done, however, it is the people, us stalwart, underpaid librarians, who take their job VERY seriously, to protect the privacy of our patrons. It's who we are!

And, just as an aside, when you are checking our and handling thousands of books per day, you really don't even see them any more, or particularly care....
Susan

[kib]

It was a Great Leap Forward in the Library world when they started using card numbers rather than names. I'm not sure that I ever checked out a book using my name, except as a child in my tiny home town library or at school.
Me too. But in a funny way that's actually more private, assuming the only record the library had of checkouts was that card. You might be able to find out everyone who ever read War and Peace, but if you wanted to know what book I personally read, you'd have to go guessing through the stacks.

[razz]

Some reasons for privacy are similar to privacy online.

If one was concerned about:
-one's marriage, one could obtain a book/s about restoring the relationship or ending it,
-mental health in another or one's own risk and needing info,
-financial fraud- both cause and risk.

Having one's name on the book on the shelf that has been ordered from other libraries is no longer permissible. Only the patron's card number is seen. The title of the book is not visible.

[freshstart]

have you read about the librarian heroes who stood up to the Patriot Act to allow us to keep our checkouts and research private?

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2015/06/03/usa_freedom_act_before_snowden_librarians_were_the _anti_surveillance_heroes.html

my library stood with them in a very conservative community, they were awesome

[ToomuchStuff]

It is very limited in privacy.
While in a small town, for instance, you may not have to deal with the physical person who see's what you check out, but that doesn't mean as a librarian, they can't look you up in the computer some how. (depends on their access level)
Now, on the other hand, what about internet access (free wifi), via the library? While they have computers people can use (in lots of cases), some require a check in or sign in (library card, traceable). While if they provide "free" wifi, when you connect to it, they have your mac address (can be spoofed), as well as things like Cookies, and other tracking software that may already be on your computer. (so if you were looking up something antigoverment say, they may already know, it was you and at this range of IP's belonging to the library).

For real privacy at the library, you need to be there during a busy time (harder to track), not check out materials, but view it there, be careful about copying things (video camera's, copiers cache, fingerprints on money, etc), and if using "free" wifi, you need to use a bootable os, that is clean everytime, with options like TOR, and spoofing your mac address, etc. etc.

Real privacy, is the thoughts in your head you never talk about.

[pony mom]

I now use the self-check in the library to keep my book choices private. They're nothing to be embarrassed about.

I enjoy reading some types of self help books for self improvement and may not want someone to know that I'm looking for help.

That being said, I borrowed a book not long ago about happiness and found a previous borrower's checkout receipt left inside it. She had taken out about 20 books about depression, mental health, etc, which made me think "Wow! This person is a mess!" I judged her in her choices. And she may have self-checked these books so no one would see them.

[razz]

I now use the self-check in the library to keep my book choices private. They're nothing to be embarrassed about.

I enjoy reading some types of self help books for self improvement and may not want someone to know that I'm looking for help.

That being said, I borrowed a book not long ago about happiness and found a previous borrower's checkout receipt left inside it. She had taken out about 20 books about depression, mental health, etc, which made me think "Wow! This person is a mess!" I judged her in her choices. And she may have self-checked these books so no one would see them.

She may have been trying to figure out how to help someone who really needs help but not sure how to go about it.;)

[jp1]

Another example, a gay person who hasn't yet come out of the closet checking out books on coming out.

While it's true that librarians could look up the records of individuals if they wanted, they should be aware (ideally through formal staff training) about their state's privacy laws. (47 states have them.) Disclosing personal information, accidentally or intentionally, would be setting the library up for a lawsuit as well as a regulatory investigation by the state Attorney General. I'll give a potential example based off a real example. In the real example a hospital employee took home paper files of six HIV patients. (she worked in billing). On the way back to work she left her bag containing the files on the train and they were lost forever. Several of the affected patients sued the hospital for the potential harm to them if the information became public. They won. This insurance claim cost us over $1,000,000. Now imagine a library worker looking up a patron's records and then gossiping to her friends "John Doe checked out half a dozen books on HIV. I bet he's infected." That's a lawsuit just waiting to happen once John Doe finds out.

[JaneV2.0]

for years after I quit working at the library, I used to come across little bits of paper saying something like "Hi Jane!" in reserved books I checked out. So much for privacy...:laff:

[iris lilies]

for years after I quit working at the library, I used to come across little bits of paper saying something like "Hi Jane!" in reserved books I checked out. So much for privacy...:laff:oh Jane, that's funny!

and I am now disappointed that
I never find notes in my hold,books...:(