Category: Libraries and Data
Prioritizing Intellectual Freedom & Privacy: Your Itinerary for ALA Annual 2023
Whether you’re a seasoned advocate or new to ALA Annual, we encourage you to prioritize the many events focusing on intellectual freedom and library privacy. In an era marked by rising censorship and attempts to limit intellectual freedom, it’s more crucial than ever for library workers to champion these fundamental principles of a healthy democracy.
New Jersey parents upset at reduced access to books
Parents in Mahwah, NJ are expressing distress that the school district has, in their view, reduced student access to books in the school libraries.
Dispatches from the Houghton Library, Part One
As an academic librarian with a deep interest in historical and contemporary book censorship, I can’t imagine a better way to spend my vacation than with the very books deemed too dangerous to read. This post is my first dispatch as a visiting fellow in publishing history at the Houghton Library, Harvard’s main repository of rare books and manuscripts.
Privacy v. Personalized Services in Libraries
Society has evolved to expect personalized recommendations from providers like Amazon and Netflix. (Who doesn’t love the suggestions for what to read or watch next, right?) I think most of us have even gotten used to seeing personalized advertising in our Facebook feeds or Google ads. However, a Library Journal article on OCLC Wise points out that this level of personalization requires data collection. Data collection by libraries can risk compromising patron privacy.
Library Freedom Project Introduces Inaugural Cohort
This summer, the Library Freedom Project introduces the latest endeavor in its mission to promote online privacy. The Library Freedom Institute will equip 13 librarians from around the country to serve as privacy advocates in their communities.
The Blockchain: What It Is and How It Can Benefit Libraries (Part Two)
By: guest blogger Shawn Demerjian. Part two on blockchains. We take a closer look at these (along with some important additions), briefly talk about the different types of blockchains that exist (yes, there is more than one blockchain), and discuss some of the issues and limitations.
The Blockchain: What It Is and How It Can Benefit Libraries
By: guest blogger Shawn Demerjian. It seems like you can’t walk past a magazine rack these days without hearing about Bitcoin, crypto-currencies, or blockchain. My goal here is to clarify some of these terms, provide a little background history, and explain how this all works.
Choose Privacy Week 2018: Explore, Learn, & Teach about Big Data
In the wake of Mark Zuckerberg’s Congressional testimony last week and the related explosion of public interest in how online personal data is collected, stored, shared, used and sometimes misused, this year’s Choose Privacy Week theme—“Big Data is Watching You”—could not be more perfectly timed.
Librarians as Cultural Warriors & Protectors
Likewise, it says a great deal about the importance of librarians, library paraprofessionals, museum curators, archivists, educators, and anyone else involved in the protection and promotion of cultural heritage and protection of intellectual freedom. Knuth’s book demonstrates that librarians can be active participants in protecting cultural history, or they can be twisted to add legitimacy to the regime’s propaganda.
Piwik, An alternative to Google Analytics
Libraries can uphold the tradition of protecting patron privacy by considering alternative web analytics tools instead of using Google Analytics.