Personal data in the online world has become a commodity. Coveted by criminals, demanded by governments, and used for unsavory purposes by marketers and advertisers, your private information is at risk everywhere. For libraries and librarians, this poses a professional threat as well as a personal one. How can we protect the privacy of library patrons and users who browse our online catalogs, borrow sensitive materials, and use our public computers and networks?

User Privacy: A Practical Guide for Librarians answers that question. Through simple explanations and detailed, step-by-step guides, library professionals will learn how to strengthen privacy protections for:

Library policiesWired and wireless networksPublic computersWeb browsersMobile devicesAppsCloud computing
Each chapter begins with a "threat assessment" that provides an overview of the biggest security risks – and the steps that can be taken to deal with them. Also covered are techniques for preserving online anonymity, protecting activists and at-risk groups, and the current state of data encryption.

In light of recent headlines about the data breaches at Facebook, Equifax, etc., public concern about the security of personal information is at an all-time high. Libraries have a duty to take precautions to protect patrons' privacy. This guide summarizes the issues involved in user privacy. The threats to user privacy have increased tremendously since records and library catalogs were first computerized many years ago. Connolly (Cornell Univ. Library) offers recommendations for developing a library privacy policy based on guidelines from the American Library Association. Most of the book focuses on the technical aspects of strengthening a library’s technology infrastructure based on the policy chosen. Securing browsers used by the public and library systems (patron records, online public access catalogs, and ransomware, for example) are of particular concern. In the last several years, users have begun connecting their mobile devices to library wireless networks, posing more complex issues for network security. This book serves well as an overview of the subject for library managers or library IT personnel; Connolly provides sources for additional reading and guidance for those wishing to delve further into a particular subject.



Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students and all library professionals.

Matthew Connolly is an application and web programmer at Cornell University Library, where he has worked for more than ten years on a variety of library services and tools for the public and library staff. He holds a Master of Engineering degree from Cornell, specializing in systems engineering. He has published articles in both popular and peer-reviewed journals and co-authored Using iPhones, iPads, and iPods: A Practical Guide for Librarians.