Library Privacy Guidelines for Library Management Systems
On this article you will get to know Guidelines for Library Management Systems.Library management systems (LMS), also referred to as integrated library systems, are employed by libraries to inventory collections and manage user records. The LMS stores personal information collected from users for a spread of reasons and maintains records of what items users borrow, the holds they place, and fines or fees they’ll incur. Additionally, the LMS may share data with or provides services to other systems employed by the library, for instance to supply authentication for online resources.
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Libraries must work to make sure that their procedures and practices for managing the LMS reflect library ethics, policies, and legal obligations concerning user privacy and confidentiality. Agreements between libraries and vendors should specify that libraries retain ownership of all data; that the seller agrees to watch the library’s privacy, data retention, and security policies; which the seller agrees to bind any third parties it uses in delivering services to those policies also. These guidelines are issued by ALA to supply libraries using LMS with information about appropriate data management and security practices in reference to library users’ personally identifiable information and data about their reading habits and use of library resources.
Guidelines for Library Management Systems
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Why Privacy Is Important?
Protecting user privacy and confidentiality has long been an integral a part of the intellectual freedom mission of libraries. The proper to free inquiry as assured by the primary Amendment depends upon the power to read and access information free from scrutiny by the gov’t or other third parties. In their provision of services to library users, librarians have an ethical obligation, expressed within the ALA Code of Ethics, to preserve users’ right to privacy. Librarians and libraries can also have a legal obligation to guard library users’ personally identifiable information and data from unauthorized disclosure and use.
Clear Privacy Policies
Users should be notified about library privacy policies when registering for a borrower’s card or borrowing materials for the primary time. Library privacy policies should be made easily available and understandable to users in an accessible format. Safeguarding user privacy requires that individuals know what personally identifiable information is gathered about them, how long it’s stored, who has access thereto and under what conditions, and the way it’s used. A proactive process should be created to notify ongoing users of any changes to the library’s privacy policies.
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User Consent
The library should give users of the LMS options on what proportion personally identifiable information is collected from them and the way it’s going to be used. Users should have a choice about whether or to not opt-in to features and services that need the gathering of private information. Users should even have the power to opt-out if they later change their minds and have the info collected during the opt-in phase be destroyed when possible. For instance, if the LMS offers the power to save lots of the checkout history, this could be an opt-in feature not turned on as a default.
Access to non-public Data
Users should have the proper to access their own personal information and evaluate its accuracy. Verifying accuracy helps make sure that library services that believe personally identifiable information can function properly. Guidance on how the user can access their personal data held within the LMS should be clear and straightforward to seek out. Access to non-public information should be restricted to the user or appropriate library staff and conform to the applicable state laws addressing the confidentiality of library records also as other applicable local, state, and federal law. Additionally, state and federal laws may give parents, guardians, and educators access to the library records of minors (see Library Privacy Guidelines for college kids in K-12 Schools within the Additional Resources section below).
Collection & Retention of User Data
Libraries should limit the quantity of private information collected by the LMS about users. Generally, the library should collect the minimum amount of private information required to supply a service or meet a selected operational need. Library policies developed round the collection of private information should also cover the utilization of any free-text note fields related to the user’s record. Personally identifiable information shouldn’t be retained in perpetuity. The library should establish policies for a way long to retain differing types of knowledge and methods for securely destroying data that’s not needed. For instance, accounts that are expired or inactive for a particular amount of your time should be purged. Retention policies should also cover archival copies and backups.
Encryption
All online transactions between client applications (staff desktop clients, web browsers, mobile apps, etc.) and server applications should be encrypted using modern, up-to-date security protocols for SSL/HTTPS. Client applications that don’t support encryption (such as staff desktop clients) should employ virtual private network (VPN) technologies. Additionally, any personally identifiable information and user data housed by the library off-site (cloud-based infrastructure, tape backups, etc.) should use encrypted storage.
PINs & Passwords
User personal identification numbers (PINs) and passwords stored within the LMS should be encrypted in order that only the user has access to them, i.e. library staff cannot view them. This encryption should use up-to-date best practices. Currently, this suggests that passwords should be salted and hashed with a SHA-2 hash function, but library personnel liable for password security should stay current on best practices. Additionally, the LMS should provide users with the power to line their PIN or password themselves without having to reveal it to library staff.
Notifications & Reports
User notifications for holds, overdue items, and fines should contain minimal personal information especially if sent through insecure communication (e.g. email, text message, postcards). Users might be encouraged to login to a secure account for more details. If the LMS provides the power to incorporate notification history as a part of the user record, this could be offered as an opt-in feature for users and not turned on by default. Access to LMS reports that contain personally identifiable information should be restricted to appropriate library staff. Reports intended for wider distribution should be anonymized by removing or encrypting personally identifiable information. Libraries that combine user information from the LMS with external demographic information for analytics should take measures to guard reader privacy. Aggregation and anonymization should be used to assist prevent the identification of reading habits and library usage with specific individuals. Due to the growing threat of re – identification techniques, access to anonymized data sets should still be restricted to appropriate users.
Data Sharing
It has become common practice for organizations to share data including personally identifiable information with third-parties. However, most state statutes on the confidentiality of library records don’t permit release of library users’ personally identifiable information or data about their use of library resources and services without user consent or a writ, although some state library confidentiality statutes permit sharing this data with parents or guardians of minors. Additionally, ALA policy forbids sharing of library user information with third parties without user consent or a writ.
Government Requests
The library should develop and implement procedures for handling government and enforcement requests for library users’ personally identifiable information and use data held within the LMS. The library should consider a government or enforcement request as long as it’s issued by a court of competent jurisdiction that shows good cause and is in proper form. The library should also inform users through its privacy policies about the legal conditions under which it’d be required to release personally identifiable information. The library could consider publishing a warrant canary notice to tell users that they need not been served with a secret government subpoena or national security letter. If a canary notice isn’t updated or it’s removed, users can assume that a subpoena or national security letter has been served (see Canary Warrants commonly asked Questions within the Additional Resources section below).
Privacy Awareness
Library staff who have access to user data within the LMS should receive training on the library’s privacy policies and best practices for safeguarding user privacy. Libraries should establish and maintain effective mechanisms to enforce their privacy policies. They ought to conduct regular privacy audits to make sure that each one operations and services suits these policies. A library that suffers a violation in its privacy policies through inadvertent dissemination or data theft must notify the affected users about this urgent matter as soon because the library is conscious of the info breach and describe what steps are being taken to remedy things or mitigate the. Guidelines for Library Management Systems