MichaelZimmer.org

Following up on recent posts on libraries and privacy here and at Chronicles of Dissent, CoD contacted Deborah Caldwell-Stone, a Deputy Director at the American Library Association, for reactions of some of the issues we’ve been discussing. Regarding concerns about libraries requiring a valid library ID in order to access the Internet, Caldwell-Stone stated, in [...]

One of the more pleasant unintended consequences of my dissertation research was unearthing how the values of privacy, autonomy, and freedom of inquiry are central to the institution of the public library. I argue that libraries serve as spheres of intellectual mobility, where citizens enjoy the ability to read, inquire, and learn free from undue [...]

Rory Litwin at the excellent Library Juice blog suggests three things we can do to remind ourselves why privacy matters: Recall specific occasions in your life when you realized you needed to make some information about yourself more private, or when you realized that your power to control your own life was diminished by your [...]

Chronicles of Dissent points to some discouraging trends at public libraries that potentially threaten patron anonymity and privacy. First, it appears more and more libraries are requiring those wishing to use their Internet services to produce a valid library card. This is troubling since, at most every library I’ve been to, individuals can enter and [...]

Library Juice posts a wonderful essay by Tracy Nectoux, a library student at UIUC, who was assigned to visit a bookstore and compare the atmosphere to a library’s atmosphere. I think it’s helpful to take the comparison one step further and include Google Book Search, along with patron privacy in the mix. Here’s a summary [...]

Inspired by a presentation by Olivia Nellums at the Identity & Identification in a Networked World symposium, one of my post-dissertation research projects will be on the privacy issues related to increased use of RFID tags in libraries. Luckily, Don Wood just posted links to some key readings to help kickstart the literature review. Thanks, [...]

I recently discovered Don Wood’s blog Library 2.0 (thanks Library Juice!). Don is the Program Officer/Communications at the American Library Association‘s Office for Intellectual Freedom, whose goals is to educate librarians and the general public about the nature and importance of intellectual freedom in libraries. A recent post discusses the ALA’s response to statements by [...]

Leslie Burger, the president of the American Library Association is helping Google celebrate Banned Books Week, taking place this year Sept. 23-30. Her post at Google’s blog encourages us to visit google.com/bannedbooks, where we can use Google Book Search to explore some of the best novels of the 20th century which have been challenged or [...]

NorthJersey.com reports of a local librarian who told police they would need a subpoena before she would turn over the circulation records of a man who had allegedly made sexually threatening comments to a 12-year-old girl outside the library. The police secured subpoenas and eventually received the information they requested, but the librarian is now [...]

(via Google Weblog) Daniel Brandt at Google-Watch points out the possibility that Google’s personally identifiable cookie could enable the FBI or other government authorities to see what books you read using Google Library via a subpoena. His particular concern is the chilling affect on one’s ability to freely read “literature that has political content or [...]