Paul Pedley is a leading expert in information law. He is a Visiting Lecturer at City University, responsible for the Information Law and Policy Module; he has been a member of LACA, the Libraries and Archives Copyright Alliance since 1998; and is the author of Digital Copyright and Copyright Compliance: Practical Steps to Stay Within the Law, and editor of Managing Digital Rights. He regularly runs training courses on copyright and other legal issues.

- Description
- Table of Contents
- About the Author
- Reviews
Privacy is a core value of librarianship and yet as a concept, it is difficult to define and in practice, a challenge to uphold. This groundbreaking new book considers how privacy issues can arise in a library context and what library and information professionals can do to protect the privacy of their users. A Practical Guide to Privacy in Libraries features a wide range of practical examples of such issues, providing insights and practical steps which readers can follow. In-depth case studies and scenarios support the examples laid out in the book, while examples of data breaches which have occurred in a library setting, and the lessons we can learn from them, are also included. The book also covers the main legislation governing data protection – GDPR – which will be particularly relevant to European librarians, and international librarians offering services to EU citizens.
The book provides a range of tools through which libraries can communicate how they handle the personal data of their users whilst ensuring that they are following best practice with their privacy policy statements, their privacy audits and data protection impact assessments. Privacy is not the same thing as data protection, and the book outlines the differences between these two concepts. Nevertheless, the book has been written with the requirements of data protection law very much in mind.
Written in a highly practical manner, this book is essential reading for library and information professionals who need to understand and support privacy in the library setting and a useful reference for students and researchers in the field who need to understand this topic in practice.
10 Data protection impact assessments
10.1 What the data protection impact assessment must contain
10.2 Impact on privacy
10.3 Steps involved in a data protection impact assessment
10.4 Examples of where DPIAs would be used in libraries
11 Privacy issues and vendors
11.1 Vendors and data breaches
11.2 Working with library vendors to maximise privacy
11.2.1 Points to consider before purchasing technology or content from external providers
11.2.2 Identifying security vulnerabilities in products you already have
11.3 Vendor privacy policies
11.3.1 Due diligence
11.3.2 The ideal scenario
11.4 Measuring the cybersecurity of vendors
12 Practical steps to protect the privacy of library users
12.1 Twenty-six practical steps to protect your users’ privacy
13 The right to be forgotten
13.1 Right of oblivion
14 Conclusion
14.1 Intellectual privacy
14.2 The freedom to read anonymously
14.3 Potential for information about reading habits to be misused
14.4 Where do libraries fit into the defence of privacy?
14.4.1 The role of information professionals
14.4.2 Legal and ethical responsibility
14.4.3 Privacy training and awareness
14.4.4 Becoming more privacy-conscious
14.4.5 Improving things for the future
14.4.6 Give library users control over how their personal data is used
15 Further reading, toolkits and other resources
15.1 Books and reports on privacy in libraries
15.2 Checklists
15.3 Web links
15.4 Toolkits
15.5 Tools
Works cited and further reading
Glossary of terms
Index
"The book's 13 main chapters are divided into brief, cogent subsections, and a detailed table of contents makes it easy to find materials on the topics addressed and to get the specific guidance offered at the point of need. Though aimed to meet the needs of librarians working in the UK, the book treats North American examples and principles thoroughly, making it useful for audiences in the US and Canada ... This is a book for working administrators and for collections supporting library and information science or curricula addressing privacy issues."
— CHOICE