Privacy

Course

Educating & Advocating for Students' Privacy [8:06]

It's important to build awareness of privacy issues with students, parents and school staff and administrators.

There are four actions a school librarian can take to advocate for students' privacy. First, recognize that not all adults have knowledge about or even support library privacy rights for minors. For librarians, privacy is a core value. But that is not true for the rest of the school community. School librarians understand that our goal is to facilitate access to good books and information, not to monitor or judge students' choices. Few adults outside the library profession are aware of the connection between minors' First Amendment rights to receive information and library privacy. Students should be able to use a school library without fear of being embarrassed or judged by an adult or peer. They should not be apprehensive about someone looking over their shoulders and commenting on their personal research and reading choices. Without privacy protection, students' right to seek information is either diminished or lost.

The second key action is to formally and informally educate your principal, teaching colleagues and support staff about why students' privacy matters in a school library. How can school librarians create enthusiasm about privacy? Start with something of interest to teachers. Apps are being used around the country and many, many schools. In a recent article in East School News, more than 20 school districts are collaborating with Common Sense Media to develop a privacy and safety rubric for apps. It will be used to rate apps according to what they do with student data. The rubric allows those developing apps to evaluate them in five categories. The categories include privacy and legal compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. The privacy category rates apps on whether they collect personally identifiable information and share it with third parties. This is the type of idea that will grab teachers' interest and help them understand privacy as it relates to student data. It will also help them understand the importance of choosing apps carefully.

Here's another way to engage educators' interest in privacy and make the topic real. Begin distributing information to increase their knowledge about their personal privacy as adults. Have you heard about the Library Freedom Project? Among the sites, many privacy protecting resources, is an excellent essay on creating strong passwords. Share this information with your teachers. The site is listed on your key privacy resources bibliography. Finally, shine a spotlight on privacy by observing ALA's Choose Privacy Week. It is held annually during the first week of May. There is a different theme each year and the 2015 theme was, "Who's Reading the Reader?" This is an obvious connection to concerns over third party vendors tracking e-book readers' reading habits and interests. You can gain a sense of past themes by checking the Choose Privacy Week website listed on your key privacy resources bibliography.

The third key action is to create a school library privacy policy. Little progress can be made on student library privacy unless librarians work with their principals to create a board-approved privacy policy. Without an official policy, student privacy will always be situational. You, as a school librarian will always be scrambling to interpret privacy law and figure out the latest privacy dilemma. A policy is the key to a stable set of official best practices.

The fourth key action is to teach students of all ages, how to protect their privacy and to respect the privacy of others. Young children have little concept of personal privacy. In reality, there is no privacy to be found as the students line up to check out their books in an elementary school library. However, school librarians can use common situations to teach young students about privacy in a library. For example: if a student is checking out a book and asks the librarian, "Who has the book checked out?" The librarian can explain that the name of the person is confidential, but that the librarian will put the book on reserve for the student. This action demonstrates by example to the student. The librarian will also keep his or her reading choices private.

If trust is established with students when they are young, the school librarian will be one of the persons to whom pre-teen and young adult users turn for assistance when seeking information on delicate topics. Although the privacy of students of all ages should be respected, as middle and high school students mature, their topics of interest also change; they may need a few extra measures to protect their privacy.

Here are three ideas for creating a stronger privacy for your middle and high school library. First, establish several reading nooks in the library with a single comfy chair, small table and plants. These areas can become havens for students to read books on personal issues without feeling exposed.

Second, leave a basket of stretchy book covers in colorful or camouflage designs at the circulation desk for students to use. These covers conceal the real book covers if students feel uncomfortable about checking out a particular book or don't want others to know what they're reading.

Third, create book baskets. Place potentially needed books on sensitive topics around the library where students can find them. I guarantee, those books will be found and they will be used.

Here is one last idea to increase upper elementary and middle school students' knowledge about library privacy. One of my middle school librarian friends includes the topic of privacy in her library orientation. She lets students know that it's no one's business what they read, except of course for their parents or guardians. It's not their friends' business or their peers' business. She makes it very clear that she doesn't make assumptions about students based on the books they check out. She emphasizes that just because they might check out a book on drugs doesn't mean she thinks they are doing drugs. Slipping in this frank conversation about privacy may help students feel at ease when needing help in finding information of any kind. As school librarians' positions continue to be slashed, protecting students' privacy won't be easy. Yet, we have to try. Our students are counting on us.

Advocate for Privacy

Context:

School librarians have a unique awareness of the importance of students' privacy that may differ from that of other professionals in the school community. The school librarian needs to share the importance of privacy with teachers, administrators, parents, and students to create a culture of awareness that protects and promotes students' privacy. Four key actions are shared in this lesson to assist a librarian in developing this school culture.

Instructions:

Based on examples shared in this workshop and your personal experience, create a list of common privacy-related questions and answers using what you have learned in this workshop. Use these examples and other information you have learned in these lessons to create a brochure about privacy to share with the school community. Share this brochure with your administrators to determine the best way to share the information broadly.

MLA Citation

Collins, Karla. "Privacy: Advocate for Privacy." School Library Connection, November 2024, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/1979857?learningModuleId=1979860&topicCenterId=2247902.

Entry ID: 2136336

Additional Resources

Key Resources Bibliography.

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. "Privacy. Educating & Advocating for Students' Privacy [8:06]." School Library Connection, ABC-CLIO, September 2015, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/1979857?learningModuleId=1979860&topicCenterId=2247902.

View all citation styles

https://schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/1979857?learningModuleId=1979860&topicCenterId=2247902

Entry ID: 1979857