Third-party access to patron info

[Jerry Kuntz]

I'm torn between admiration and being deeply troubled by some developing scripts and services like LibraryELF (currently in beta):
http://www.libraryelf.com/

What I admire is they offer services that definitely fill a gap that online library systems either don't offer or which may not have been implemented locally: pre-overdue email notices and nice graphic calendar displays, for example. Plus they offer the benefit of combining data from separate library system accounts a person might have (a public library card and university library card, for instance.)

But other aspects of this are worrisome. Users are asked to give their library card numbers and PINs to a third company. They are encouraged to combine user activity of different family members into one user account--a feature that many public library users have asked for, but which our professional guidelines discourage.  With the card number and PIN, the third party can also access names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses stored in the library's patron records. In effect, users are consenting to give away the privacy of their library accounts that the library itself has worked hard to protect.

Maybe this has been discussed in some library blogs already, but I haven't seen it mentioned on the listservs I frequent...

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Jerry Kuntz
Electronic Resources Consultant
Ramapo Catskill Library System
jkuntz at rcls.org

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