From: Ann Shumelda Okerson <[log in to unmask]> Date: Wed, 11 Nov 2015 21:18:20 -0500 From Slate, on the future of libraries and, as they go increasingly digital, the challenges they face to protecting patrons' privacy: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2015/11/libraries_need_to_protect_patron_data_as_they_turn_high_tech.html Today, the computerization of the library’s management systems is nearly complete, raising the specter of exclusivity and restrictiveness. Libraries—once the site of invention for the classification of information—have become consumers of information services and data management products. They contract with a variety of vendors who sell e-book services, journals databases, checkout kiosks, interactive catalogues, circulation records systems, computer reservation systems, and more. Libraries purchase business management software to set up integrated library systems that provide back-end support to the institutions’ myriad databases. And of course, they rely on third-party services to set up and run public computers and provide access to the Internet. How data flows and subsequently how patrons, not to mention staff, are able to access, store, and share information depends on third-party systems contracted by the library. And this dependency means third parties shape the conditions under which data flowing in and out of libraries is used, exploited, or exposed. Third parties set the terms of controls or protections, and that can lead to situations where patron data is used against users’ wishes or knowledge.