LibraryLaw Blog

Library Laws for the Web Environment

I'm working on a webinar for Infopeople on Library Laws for the Web environment. It's a broad topic. Does anyone have specific questions that would be good for me to include?

unstaffed libraries - privacy concerns

I just read about the King County unstaffed library. It's a great concept for the users - a spot where you can make and receive requests for books systemwide, drop off your books, browse paperbacks, and even use a telephone to get some assistance.

The concern I have is with privacy. If users must swipe their library card to get in, I assume this information is tracked. Surveillance cameras keep a close eye on what folks are doing. While I can appreciate the security basis for these measures, it seems that new types of records are being created that track not just our behavior, but what we choose to read as well.

Library staff privacy and staff pictures on library websites

Do library staff have any leg to stand on if they don't want to participate in having their picture, name, and bio on a library website?  The library wants to be welcoming to the community.

I was just asked this question, and I don't know offhand. Anyone have comments?

Writing library behavior codes - Infopeople webinar December 10th Noon (Pacific time)

Infopeople webinar http://infopeople.org/training/webcasts/webcast_data/345/index.html

Writing a Library Behavior Code   - Thursday Dec. 10, 2009 Noon (Pacific Time)

• A teen in the library is bothering other library users.
• A woman is breastfeeding her baby in the children's room.
• A man asks for help looking up N1H1, says he has it and then sneezes loudly.

Are these behaviors prohibited by the library's code of conduct? If so, what can library staff legally do to address the situation?

This webinar will benefit participants by helping them draft legally enforceable behavior codes. It offers guidance on reasonable behavior rules, distinguished from restrictions on user's free speech rights. What type of notice must the library give its users about its behavior policies? When is an appeals process required, and what should it entail?

The webinar also looks at the emerging issue of library user behavior at library spaces online in chat, text, blog comments as well as third party spaces like library myspace and flickr pages.

Congratulations to the new OIF Director, Barbara Jones!

Barbara Jones has been chosen as the new Director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom, and the Director of the Freedom to Read Foundation, at the American Library Association.  Excellent choice - a real people person who is passionate about free access to information.