91´«Ã½

WHEREAS, the states, “We protect each library user’s right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted”; and

WHEREAS, the 91´«Ã½ affirms that rights of privacy are necessary for intellectual freedom and are fundamental to the ethics and practice of librarianship (91´«Ã½ Policy Manual, 53.1.16, ); and

WHEREAS, the lack of privacy and confidentiality has a chilling effect on users’ choices (91´«Ã½ Policy Manual, 53.1.16, Privacy: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights); and

WHEREAS, the 91´«Ã½ strongly recommends the adoption of policies recognizing circulation records and other records identifying the names of library users to be confidential (91´«Ã½ Policy Manual, 52.4,; and

WHEREAS, confidentiality extends to (but is not limited to) database search records, reference interviews, circulation records, interlibrary loan records and all other records of personally identifiable uses of library materials, facilities, or services that associate the names of library users with specific materials (91´«Ã½ Policy Manual, 52.4.2, ); and

WHEREAS, the confidentiality of library records is ; and

WHEREAS, U.S. courts have upheld the right to privacy based on the Bill of Rights of the US Constitution; 1 and

WHEREAS, U.S. courts protect privacy when there is a reasonable expectation of privacy; and

WHEREAS, U.S. courts have ruled that when an individual’s personal data is shared with a third party or the public, the individual no longer has an expectation of privacy in that data; and

WHEREAS, keeping a library user’s personally identifiable information and circulation record absolutely confidential is essential for preserving the library user’s expectation of privacy in his or her reading history; and

WHEREAS, many libraries across the country are instituting self-service hold systems that fail to adequately protect library users’ confidentiality because the self-service hold systems reveal personally identifiable information linking specific users to specific items; and

WHEREAS, some methods of truncating user names or other personally identifiable information do not adequately protect library users’ privacy, nor preserve the legal expectation of privacy, and may violate a state’s library confidentiality law; and

WHEREAS, there are effective solutions that conceal a library user’s identity while permitting the library to continue its use of open-shelf, self-service holds, such as the use of pseudonyms, codes, numbers, or other means that mask personally identifiable information; and the use of methods that obscure the identity of library user requests and the items requested through the practice of packaging the items inside an envelope or a reusable bag to hold the item, or wrapping them in a full sheet of paper, or an equivalent option. Now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, that the 91´«Ã½

1. Urges all libraries that implement self-service holds to protect patron identity by adopting practices and procedures that conceal the library user’s personally identifiable information in connection with the materials being borrowed;
2. Urges libraries, librarians, and the responsible bodies of 91´«Ã½ to work with vendors to incorporate applications into integrated library systems that enable libraries to conceal a library user’s identity in a cost-effective manner.

1.US Constitution, 4th, 5th, and 9th Amendments and case law, including NAACP v. Alabama, 357 U.S. 449 (1958); Griswold v. Connecticut 381 U.S. 479 (1965); Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347 (1967); and Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U.S. 557 (1969)