[WEB4LIB] customization is a double-edged sword

[Eric Lease Morgan]

Mark Gooch (goochm at kenyon.edu) wrote:

> I agree with everything that Eric says, however, while we may conduct
> ourselves in a professional manner which would protect the librarian/patron
> relationship there is no legal protection of it as there is for doctor/patient
               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> and lawyer/client.  If they come knocking with a court order we probably
> aren't able to refuse in the case of the user profiles.  Even if we were able
> have the relationship legally covered, are all of the people in positions
> controlling such user profile-type information MLS librarians?  If not the
> legal coverage wouldn't apply.  Eric is right, this opens up a can of worms.

For the most part, I think this is correct, but on the other hand, I have
heard that here in North Carolina there is a law that says reference
questions are considered private information between librarians and patrons.
(It would be nice to know the exact statute.) If true, this is not
necessarily broad enough for today's computer networked world.

We still have the can of worms.

-- 
Eric Lease Morgan