[Web4lib] [web4lib] survey on library website third party analytics privacy concerns

[Susan Kane]

I worked at the University of Washington for seven years and at Ex Libris
for five.

Of course, library vendors need to sell things in order to stay in business,
but I didn't come into work every day at Ex Libris thinking "how can we sell
more software?".  Rather, I came into work every day thinking "how can I
help make our products better for libraries?"

I think if you do the latter, the former falls into place.

Having worked in both environments, the main difference is that I worked
much harder (and was also paid better) at the vendor.

I did not find that I had to give up my personal or professional ethics to
work for a vendor.  If I had found a serious conflict, I would have left.

That's not to say that ALA is in control and we must all follow its rules.
And certainly it has come to my attention that some public librarians find
some of ALA's guidelines to be very difficult to implement in practice.

Finally, censorship properly refers to a government body or other
powers-that-be preventing someone from speaking their mind.  It does not
refer to a request for more courtesy between two individuals with equal
power on a listserv.