The Ultimate Privacy Field Guide

Privacy is a core value of librarianship, yet it often feels like an overwhelming and onerous undertaking. With the creation of ever larger datasets and methods to track users’ every movement, library workers need to have a deep understanding of privacy, confidentiality, and security. Written by library privacy experts and based on input and guidance from a wide cross-section of stakeholders, this resource is structured to give library workers the tools needed to create and be advocates for privacy-protecting practices and policies. Complete with an introduction to each topic and several exercises for you to implement privacy changes at your library, with the help of this guide you will - learn about creating strong passwords, multifactor authentication, how to avoid malware, and other basic digital security concepts as well as where to go for more help;
- be able to communicate the importance of privacy and why libraries should care by understanding the people you are trying to reach;
- navigate areas in your physical library space to help protect users’ privacy;
- see how user data travels through the library and what you can do to protect it;
- build an audit framework, perform an audit, and tell the audit story;
- read, understand, and write privacy policies applicable to your library; and
- gain key strategies to employ while protecting user privacy when engaging vendors.