Share these talks and lectures with your colleagues
Invite colleaguesResearch paper
Managing privacy: A survey of practices in digital archives and libraries
Journal of Digital Media Management,
9
(2),
177-190
(2021)
Abstract
Building on past research regarding privacy and digital librarianship, this study surveyed managers of digital libraries across the USA to gauge prevalent attitudes regarding individual privacy versus access to information. In the wake of controversy surrounding the European Union’s 2014 ruling regarding the ‘right to be forgotten’, the authors sought to develop a better understanding of how digital library managers in the USA handle privacy concerns, such as takedown requests, especially in light of the strong protections for first amendment rights in the USA. This research explores whether the majority of archives and digital libraries have developed privacy policies and what they consider to be the key elements of a robust privacy policy. The study also explores the shifting attitudes around privacy and access, both of digital library managers and of their institutions, in an effort to determine how these relate to the handling of such requests. Finally, the research examines how often information professionals receive takedown requests from their communities, with the hope of tracking this trend over time. This paper provides an overview of the current landscape involving privacy policies and takedown requests, and highlights some of the fundamental issues facing information professionals so that they may have the necessary resources to develop and implement privacy policies at their institutions.
Keywords: digital archives; digital libraries; privacy; practitioners; ethics; information professionals
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Virginia Dressler is the Digital Projects Librarian at Kent State University. Her specialty areas include the management of digital projects and the migration of analogue collections to open digital collections. She holds an MLIS from Kent State University and an MA in art gallery and museum studies from the University of Leeds.
Kelley Rowan is the Digital Archives Librarian in the Digital Collections Center at Florida International University where she is responsible for publishing electronic theses and dissertations. She also manages various projects related to the dPanther digital repository and serves as a dPanther liaison within the university and with community partners. She specialises in the science of survey creation, offering workshops through the university’s Digital Scholar Studio, and is the Editor-in-Chief of Athenaeum: Scholarly Works of the FIU Libraries Faculty and Staff collection.
Rebecca Bakker is the Digital Collections Librarian in the Digital Collections Center at Florida International University. In addition to overseeing the retrospective mass digitisation of the university’s theses and dissertations, she provides workshops on digitisation skills, metadata and content management. Rebecca specialises in digital humanities topics such as creating oral histories and digital exhibits. She also serves as a liaison for community and university partners working with the university’s digital and institutional repositories. She holds an MLIS from Florida State University.
