[Web4lib] Library Website Privacy Policies

[Peter Murray]

I did some work at the University of Connecticut a while back that was modeled on the Trust-E recommendations for e-commerce sites.  In the end, it, too, was boiled down to about a page (http://www.lib.uconn.edu/about/privacy/).  I also ran a survey of ARL members asking about their privacy policies.  The executive summary is most of a decade old, but you might find some useful bits in it:

  SPEC Kit 278 Library Patron Privacy , November 2003
  http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/spec278webbook.pdf


Peter

On Apr 1, 2011, at 7:59 PM, Adams, Jason wrote:
> 
> Our Web Team put together a nice 2-page privacy policy -- very similar
> to what you see on most library websites.  When our Policy Review Team
> revised it, our privacy policy was reduced to two sentences sandwiched
> between a statement from the ALA Code of Ethics ("We protect each
> library user's right to privacy...") and a statement about the PATRIOT
> Act ("The Library System complies with the law as it relates to the
> U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act...").
> 
> It's my understanding that it is "proper" standard practice for website
> privacy policies to detail a website's information-gathering practices,
> including a description of why we collect data, what we collect, and
> what we do with it.  I've seen this mentioned by the Electronic Frontier
> Foundation, Federal Trade Commission, and the American Library
> Association (in their document "Guidelines For Developing a Library
> Privacy Policy").
> 
> What are your suggestions for helping our less web-savvy library system
> decision-makers to understand the importance of a more descriptive
> privacy policy for our library website?  Any links to related articles,
> other library privacy policies, and statements by the EFF, FTC, ALA,
> library lawyers, etc. would also be helpful.
> 
> Thanks in advance for your replies!
> 
> Jason Adams, Library Assistant II
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Web4lib mailing list
> Web4lib at webjunction.org
> http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
> 


-- 
Peter Murray         Peter.Murray at lyrasis.org        tel:+1-678-235-2955                 
Ass't Director, Technology Services Development   http://dltj.org/about/
Lyrasis   --    Great Libraries. Strong Communities. Innovative Answers.
The Disruptive Library Technology Jester                http://dltj.org/ 
Attrib-Noncomm-Share   http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/