Protecting Your Students' Privacy: Resources for School Librarians
Feature
Privacy and confidentiality are traditional core values for school librarians, but the legal and ethical considerations involved are among the most difficult to understand and apply in school libraries. Fortunately, there are many online resources a school library professional can use to become knowledgeable about protecting students’ privacy.
In 2016, the American Library Association (ALA) privacy advocates took giant steps to create tools to provide advice and direction for school library privacy issues. In April, ALA published “Library Privacy Guidelines for Students in K-12 Schools.” Aimed at helping school librarians protect their students’ privacy, this document addresses why privacy is important; having a library privacy policy; conducting an audit of library privacy procedures; creating safeguards for collecting, retaining, and sharing students’ data; establishing safeguards for data sharing with teachers, parents, and third parties such as vendors; working with learning management systems; and educating students about their privacy rights and respecting the rights of others. A list of significant supporting resources is appended to the document.
Four additional guidelines were published in August 2016. Depending on your situation, they offer nuggets of valuable information:
Library Privacy Guidelines for Public Access Computers
Library Privacy Guidelines for Library Websites, OPACS, and Discovery Services
Library Privacy Guidelines for Library Management Systems
Library Privacy Guidelines for Data Exchange between Networked Devices and Services.
In the fall of 2016, ALA volunteers created action-oriented checklists that correspond to the five library privacy guidelines. The checklists give librarians a starting point for proactively protecting their users’ privacy with prioritized levels of actions— Priority 1, 2, or 3— with Priority 1 being the least demanding. Each tier increases the effort and knowledge required by a librarian. "The checklists are intended to help libraries of all capacities take practical steps to implement the principles that are laid out in the Privacy Guidelines, said Michael Robinson, chair of the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee Privacy Subcommittee. “They break up what can seem to be overwhelming privacy issues into a more discrete set of actions and allow librarians to quickly identify the areas for improving privacy practices in their libraries” (Michael Robinson, email message to author, December 7, 2016).
In the "Library Privacy Checklist for Students in K-12 Schools,” Priority 1 actions are basic and include steps such as only collecting minimal personally identifiable information about each student, configuring the circulation system to delete unnecessary student borrowing history, and creating internal library procedures to protect students’ library use. Priority 2 activities raise the bar to a more proactive level, encompassing educating teachers, administrators, and other staff about students’ privacy rights and initiating privacy instruction for students. Priority 3 actions require the greatest engagement by a school librarian but also provide the strongest protection for students’ privacy. One key step includes working collaboratively with other stakeholders to create a library privacy policy to be approved by the governing body and communicated widely (Prepublication Draft: Library Privacy Checklist for Students in K-12 Schools, December 2016). Publication of the checklists is expected in early 2017, and all guidelines and their respective checklists will be available on the Choose Privacy Week website.
Annually since 2009, the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has observed Choose Privacy Week (CPW) during the first week of May. CPW creates a dedicated time for school librarians to educate faculty and students about personal privacy and privacy as a national issue. In 2016, youth privacy issues finally received primary attention. The CPW theme centered on respecting individuals’ privacy, emphasizing youth privacy and using the tagline “Respect me, respect my privacy.” CPW blogs focused on topics such as resources for teaching privacy to K-12 students, protecting students’ personal information when using school online electronic resources and apps, and student data management involving state legislation and local district actions. Still relevant and worth reading, the blogs are accessible on the Choose Privacy Week website’s blog archives. The 2016 CPW webinar featured three presenters including Erin Berman, one of the developers of the San Jose Public Library’s Virtual Privacy Lab, a free online tool that, through a series of questions, creates a personalized list of resources to increase the individual’s knowledge about online privacy and security. The free hour-long webinar is still available for viewing on demand.
The 2017 CPW theme is “Pretty Good Privacy Practice” spotlighting the ways librarians can increase their users’ privacy. Blog posts will appear daily on their website featuring topics such as creating a library privacy policy and negotiating privacy-smart contracts with vendors. There will be a one-hour free webinar in April reviewing the Let’s Encrypt certificate program, using the Tor browser to safeguard online personal privacy and security, and describing best practices for integrated library systems. OIF-sponsored eLearning webinars are always recorded, creating the option to view them after their live date.
Authoritative current information on privacy is available from a number of familiar ALA sources. For a general background on privacy in libraries, check out the “Questions and Answers on Privacy and Confidentiality” developed and updated by ALA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee on a regular basis. Relevant information on school library privacy is found in Section IV., Questions 32-34. Don’t miss the ALA Privacy Tool Kit for a very thorough coverage of privacy including the impact technology has on privacy. OIF privacy information and news can also be found on social media including Facebook and Twitter.
The OIF’s blog is a one-stop source of thoughtful posts on a myriad of intellectual freedom and privacy topics. In addition to posts by OIF staff, there are contributing (volunteer) bloggers including Natalie Bates, a teacher librarian at Northwest High School in Justin, Texas. The site also hosts an extensive archive of news on Banned Books Week from many sources .
Every two weeks, OIF intern April Dawkins, a former school librarian, prepares the “Intellectual Freedom News,” a compilation of links to news articles from U.S. and global media sources about privacy, book challenges in schools and libraries, filtering issues, access to information, the First Amendment, copyright, and other relevant topics. You can access an archive of past news reports and sign up to receive the free electronic round-up via email.
ALA’s Choose Privacy Week website has a large number of current and archived privacy resources. One of the most useful links for school librarians is “Students’ & Minors’ Privacy,” located under “Resources.” Another helpful area is “Privacy in the News” which is updated daily. The Library Privacy Guidelines and their corresponding checklists are also archived on the site for easy retrieval. According to OIF deputy director Deborah Caldwell Stone, there will be a redesign of the site and its content with an expectation of completion by the 2017 CPW (Deborah Caldwell Stone, email to author, December 2, 2016).
In May 2016, OIF debuted The Journal for Intellectual Freedom & Privacy (JIFP), a new source of in-depth privacy articles for librarians. Published quarterly online, it is an “expansion” of The Journal of Intellectual Freedom, a print magazine available from 1952-2015. Although subscription-based at seventy-five dollars per year, the inaugural issue is available online for no charge. Privacy and Internet ethics expert, Michael Zimmer, associate professor in the School of Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and director of the Center for Information Policy Research, will be guest editing the privacy-themed JIFP Spring 2017 issue.
In addition to the online resources listed throughout this article, OIF staff, especially deputy director Deborah Caldwell Stone, are available to answer questions about library privacy for minors in a school setting. Anyone may contact the Office for Intellectual Freedom for assistance, ALA or AASL membership is not required.
Protecting your students’ privacy in the library and informing the school community—administrators, teachers, support staff, students, and parents—is one of your responsibilities under the ALA Code of Ethics, Article III, which urges librarians to “protect each library user’s right to privacy and confidentiality…” (ALA “Code of Ethics”). Using these resources will help you meet your ethical and legal responsibilities.
ALA. “Code of Ethics of the American Library Association, Article III.” http://www.ala.org/advocacy/proethics/codeofethics/codeethics/ (accessed November 27, 2016).
ALA. LITA and ALA Privacy Subcommittee. “Prepublication Draft: Library Privacy Checklist for Students in K-12 Schools.” Shared Google Document, December 2, 2016.
Center for Information Policy Research http://cipr.uwm.edu/
Choose Privacy Week (CPW) website https://chooseprivacyweek.org
CPW 2016 webinar http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/webinar/privacy2016
CPW May 2016 blog archives https://chooseprivacyweek.org/2016/05/
Intellectual Freedom News sign up http://ala.informz.net/ala/profile.asp?fid=3430
The Journal for Intellectual Freedom & Privacy. First free issue https://journals.ala.org/jifp
Let’s Encrypt certificate program https://letsencrypt.org/about/
Library Privacy Guidelines for Data Exchange between Networked Devices and Services http://www.ala.org/advocacy/library-privacy-guidelines-data-exchange-between-networked-devices-and-services
Library Privacy Guidelines for Library Management Systems http://www.ala.org/advocacy/library-privacy-guidelines-library-management-systems
Library Privacy Guidelines for Library Websites, OPACS, and Discovery Services http://www.ala.org/advocacy/library-privacy-guidelines-library-websites-opacs-and-discovery-services
Library Privacy Guidelines for Public Access Computers http://www.ala.org/advocacy/library-privacy-guidelines-public-access-computers-and-networks
Library Privacy Guidelines for Students in K-12 Schools http://www.ala.org/advocacy/library-privacy-guidelines-students-k-12-schools
Office of Intellectual Freedom (OIF) staff contact information http://www.ala.org/offices/oif
OIF eLearning programs http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intellectual-freedom-elearning
OIF archive of past news reports http://www.oif.ala.org/oif/?cat=393
OIF Blog http://www.oif.ala.org/oif/
OIF Blog Banned Books Week news archive http://www.oif.ala.org/oif/?page_id=7496
Privacy Tool Kit http://www.ala.org/advocacy/privacyconfidentiality/toolkitsprivacy/privacy
Q & A on Privacy & Confidentiality http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/qa-privacy
San Jose Public Library’s Virtual Privacy Lab https://www.sjpl.org/privacy
Tor browser https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en
About the Author
Helen R. Adams, MLS, is an online senior lecturer for Antioch University-Seattle in the areas of intellectual freedom, privacy, ethics, and copyright. A Wisconsin resident, she formerly worked as a school librarian and served as president of AASL. She is chair of the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee and a member of the AASL Knowledge Quest Advisory Board. She authored Protecting Intellectual Freedom and Privacy in Your School Library (Libraries Unlimited 2013) and co-contributed a chapter on intellectual freedom to the second edition of The Many Faces of School Library Leadership (Libraries Unlimited 2017).
MLA Citation
Adams,Helen R. "Protecting Your Students' Privacy: Resources for School Librarians." School Library Connection, April 2017, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Article/2071402.
https://schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Article/2071402?topicCenterId=0
Entry ID: 2071402