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• What legislation and school policies address the confidentiality of student information? Do these documents apply to library use?
• Are overdue notices read aloud or posted in classrooms, or are students notified privately or directly?
• Are all teachers, library staff and volunteers trained to respect confidentiality of student queries and use of library materials?
• Is the [automated] library system set to purge borrower records as soon as is feasible?
• Are library staff members trained to differentiate between queries that represent curiosity and personal interest versus those that pose a reasonable concern for the safety of students?

Source: Riehl, D. (2007). Students’ privacy rights in school libraries: balancing principles, ethics and practices. School Libraries in Canada: a journal of the Canadian Association of School Libraries. 26(2). Retrieved March 14, 2009 from http://www.cla.ca/casl/slic/262studentsprivacyrights.htm

If you have ever questioned whether or not the policies and procedures in your school library are really protecting the privacy of your clientele, perhaps a “privacy audit“ is in order.  In the article “Conducting a privacy audit,”  Helen Adams describes this term as “a process during which library staff examine what personally identifiable information is collected about each patron and the records generated about the individual’s use of library resources, services, and facilities.”  In Donna Riehl’s article entitled “Student privacy rights in school libraries: balancing principles, ethics and practices,”  the author suggests that “a privacy audit conducted at a school level might provide [library personnel with] an enlightening review of practices and identity modifications to better support students’ rights.” A privacy audit can also help library personnel to reflect on how well they address privacy concerns in regards to patron confidentiality in the following areas:

• access to client library records
• policies adopted specifically in regards to library use
• records of a patron’s personal information
• records of a patron’s circulation information
• distribution of overdue notices to students
• requests for interlibrary loans
• patron data and histories recorded by Internet search logs on school networks
• disposal of library records that contain patron information

If school library personnel thought that upholding student privacy rights in the library was difficult before the onset of the Internet, they certainly could not have imagined how challenging the task has become since the rapid growth of social networking sites. In his book Learning right from wrong in the digital age: an ethics guide for parents, teachers, librarians, and others who care about computer-using young people, Doug Johnson states that “privacy issues are a hot-button topic as citizens become more aware of how easily technology can gather, hold, and analyze personal data and how, increasingly, their own online activities can be monitored” (Johnson, 2003). In considering the issue of online privacy, students need to “protect their own privacy as well as honor the privacy of others” (Johnson, 2003).

Protecting your own privacy online

Teaching students to protect their own privacy online is really no different than teaching them how to be “street smart” in their real life. It is important for students to become savvy to online marketing and advertising, in the same way that we teach them to be wary of print media and television advertising. Students need to understand that a stranger online is no different than a stranger they might meet on the street. What is different is that online we “lose the visual clues to the other person” and we only know what we are told (Johnson, 2003).

It is a challenge for both educators and parents to ensure that children in their care learn to be “googled well” (Richardson, 2009). Children also need to understand how their online behaviour may be interpreted in the future. Their actions online may seem harmless at the time, but what will others think a year from now or a prospective employer five years from now. In “Lighting lamps,” blogger Doug Johnson advises us to write as though people we want to think well of us are reading what we write or post – a parent, a friend, a co-worker or a boss.

Respecting the privacy of others

In addition to protecting your own privacy online, students also need to learn the importance of respecting the privacy of others, including their peers, teachers and parents. The content of student work created on a computer is private, in the same way that the content of a written diary is personal. Students need to understand that just “because information appears on a computer screen doesn’t make it public” (Johnson, 2003).

In “R U Safe,” author Johanna Mustacchi asks “Who better to teach young adolescents about online dangers than other adolescents?” This article from the March 2009 issue of Educational Leadership describes how 8th Grade students took on the responsibility of educating 6th Graders about online safety and privacy. It is really impressive how middle years teacher, Johanna Mustacchi, uses her media literacy course “for motivating older students to present information on a public safety issue – and getting younger students to take it seriously” (Mustacchi, 2009). As part of this authentic inquiry project, the 8th Grade students created the following top ten list of Internet safety tips:

1. Don’t give out personal information
2. Don’t talk to anybody you don’t know
3. Use a secure password
4. Don’t give your password to anybody
5. Be careful about what you post online
6. Don’t put pictures of yourself online
7. Tell someone if you get cyberbullied
8. Be honest
9. Don’t click on pop-ups
10. Only go to sites you know are safe

Source: 8th Grade Students at Pierre Van Cortlandt Middle School. Mustacchi, Johanna. (2009). R U Safe? Educational Leadership, 66, 6. p.81.

Implications for teaching and learning

Teacher-librarians support intellectual freedom and advocate for client privacy rights on principle, but I wonder whether or not what we know and believe, always transfers into practice in our school libraries? It can be a curious situation that we find ourselves in when it comes to honouring a student’s right for privacy in a school library. The dilemma stems from the fact that teacher-librarians have a dual role in the school – first, they are teachers and in that role, act in the best interests of a child in their parent’s absence. Secondly, they are librarians who have the responsibility to uphold the ideals of intellectual freedom and privacy in the school library. So how do teacher-librarians resolve this conflict within their assignment when parents or guardians request specific library information about their child’s borrowing habits. Are parents denied access to their own child’s library circulation records when inquiring about overdue book titles, even when the child is a kindergarten student?

Concerns relating to patron privacy in a school library are not only the responsibility of teacher-librarians, but of all school library personnel including library technicians, clerks, parent volunteers and student helpers who may come in contact with personal client information. It is important that all those who work in school libraries be cognizant of what constitutes student privacy when managing personal information. For many of our school library personnel this means re-thinking how we handle circulation procedures and overdue notices. It also means re-educating our colleagues and parents to understand how libraries have a responsibility in protecting the privacy of their patrons.

According to the Canadian Library Association’s “Position on citizenship access to information data banks – right to privacy,” the policy states “that names of library users not be released to any person, institution, association or agency for any reasons save as may be legally required by Federal or Provincial laws.”  It would not surprise me if administrators, staff and parents found the school librarian’s perspective on student privacy somewhat overprotective or even excessive. Teachers posting overdue lists and parents requesting titles for missing library books have always been considered as ways in which adults help students take responsibility for borrowed library materials, not as invasions of privacy.

In some ways, I think teacher-librarians may have an easier task when it comes to convincing staff members and parents as to the importance of educating students to guard their privacy in an online environment. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada’s website includes pertinent information on Children’s Online Privacy. This site confirms that more and more young people are spending a great deal of their lives online, and as a result, they “must [learn to] navigate the challenges of protecting their personal information online.” Teacher-librarians can help students to understand that what they write and say online can profile their identity for marketing purposes. Personal data is “a hot commodity” for companies looking for trends and patterns in their preferences upon which to capitalize.

In order to address student privacy issues in the school library, my first step would be to investigate our divisional policy manual in regards to existing student privacy rights. Developing and documenting a divisional privacy policy for our school libraries, that supports both circulation and online issues, would be valuable in educating both students and staff to recognize how school library programs promote the ideals of intellectual freedom.  To support a greater understanding of common privacy issues, it would also be worthwhile for our teacher-librarians to make authentic connections to the affective domain of our Manitoba Literacy with ICT across the curriculum.  This area of the continuum identifies “respecting others’ privacy” and “protecting personal information” as examples where students can apply an ethical and responsible use of ICT.  By embedding these ideals within their inquiry-based learning activities, teacher-librarians can create a greater sense of awareness among students and staff in regards to individual rights and responsibilities.

Privacy and confidentiality are social responsibilities that school library personnel need to take ownership for in our school libraries.  It is important for students, even at a young age, to understand that school libraries defend their rights to privacy and freedom to read as they choose.