[214] in Information Retrieval
some ALA statements on confidentiality
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Eric Celeste)
Fri Jan 7 15:27:08 1994
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 94 15:25:23 -0500
From: Eric Celeste <efc@wonder.mit.edu>
To: elibdev@MIT.EDU
Reply-To: efc@MIT.EDU
I refered to some ALA "guidelines" on confidentiality and patron privacy during
the elibdev meeting today. Here are two relevant quotes for those who want to
hear the ALA's own words...
From the "Librarian's Code of Ethics"
(full text at ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/academic/library/ethics.ala)
> III. Librarians must protect each user's right to privacy with
> respect to information sought or received and materials consulted,
> borrowed, or acquired.
And from the ALA's "Policy Concerning Confidentiality of Personally Identifiable
Information About Library Users"
(full text at ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/academic/library/confidentiality.2.ala)
> The ethical responsibilities of librarians, as well as statutes
> in most states and the District of Columbia, protect the
> privacy of library users. Confidentiality extends to
> "information sought or received, and materials consulted,
> borrowed or acquired," and includes database search records,
> reference interviews, circulation records, interlibrary loan
> records and other personally identifiable uses of library
> materials, facilities, or services.
Enjoy!
...Eric
____________________________________________________________________
Eric Celeste / MIT Libraries / 14E-210A / 617-253-0633 / efc@mit.edu
http://wonder.mit.edu/people/eric.html
