Confidentiality Issues 1

Confidentiality Issues in School Library Media Centers

Amanda Deems

Georgia Southern University

ITEC/FRIT 7132

Spring 2009
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Confidentiality Issues in School Library Media Centers

There are many different issues to consider when developing policies for school library

media centers. The issue of confidentiality, or privacy, of library records should certainly be

included and clearly defined in any media center policy. Toor and Weisburg (2007) noted that

privacy rights are part of the bigger issue of intellectual freedom. School library media

specialists hold differing opinions on the level of confidentiality that is required by law and what

is feasible in everyday media center operations. As a result, confidentiality policies and

procedures can vary greatly among schools even though there are federal laws, state laws, and

local school board policies that school library media specialists are expected to follow.

What exactly is meant by the terms confidentiality and privacy in school library media

centers? The “Guidelines for Developing a Library Privacy Policy” states, “In libraries, the right

to privacy is the right to open inquiry without having the subject of one’s interest examined or

scrutinized by others” (American Library Association [ALA], 2003, Introduction section, para

1). In school library media centers, the individuals conducting the inquiries are children, and they

have the same rights to privacy as adults. According to Policy 52.4 of the American Library

Association’s policy manual, “Confidentiality extends to ‘information sought or received, and

materials consulted, borrowed, acquired,’ and includes database search records, interlibrary loan

records, and other personally identifiable uses of library materials, facilities, or services” (The

American Association of School Librarians [AASL], 1999).

All individuals who work in school library media centers should be knowledgeable about

national and state laws in addition to the local school board policies (Toor & Weisburg, 2007).

Two federal laws are the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and Children’s
 Confidentiality Issues 3

Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). FERPA protects the privacy of students’ education

records (U.S. Department of Education, 2008), and COPPA specifies rules for the online

collection of personal information from children younger than 13 years of age

(http://www.coppa.org/comply.htm, retrieved 4/21/09).

Privacy laws may vary at the state level. Georgia has a statute, O.C.G. SS 24-9-46, which

addresses confidentiality of library records. According to this statute, circulation records and

other library records that identify the user of library materials shall be confidential records, not

public records. These records can be disclosed to library personnel conducting ordinary library

operations. They can be disclosed upon written consent of the user or the user’s parents in the

case of a minor or upon appropriate court order or subpoena (ALA, 2009). In a post on LM_Net,

Gallion (2008, February 8) urged other media specialists to become familiar with the privacy

laws in their individual states and to refrain from making assumptions about what is acceptable

and not acceptable. She emphasized the need for media specialists to be able to defend their

actions in regard to privacy issues if those actions are brought into question.

Local school board policies on confidentiality do not always specifically address library

records. However, the American Library Association (2003) asserted that school library

personnel should develop board approved policies that ensure privacy protection for all school

library records of students and teachers. In addition, school library personnel should educate

members of the school community and the larger educational community about privacy rights

and the privacy policies that are in effect.

Currently, the Atkinson County School System has a board policy that addresses

confidentiality, but it contains no mention of confidentiality as it pertains to school library media

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center records. There is also no county or school media center policy that addresses

confidentiality. One media specialist in the county believes that privacy protection is a not a

significant issue at the elementary school level because the collection generally does not contain

materials on sensitive topics like the high school’s collection. There are some media center

procedures that are contrary to best practice recommendations. Overdue book notices containing

the student’s name, the title of the book, and the replacement cost of the book are placed in

teachers’ boxes. The media specialist does not provide requested information to individuals other

than the parents or guardians of a child unless some direction is received from the principal or

assistant principal. Students’ circulation records and Accelerated Reader (AR) records are kept in

the automated system until the students leave the campus to attend the high school. These

records are maintained in order to handle issues of students who cheat on AR tests or repeatedly

lose or damage materials. Only the media specialist is supposed to have access to circulation

records in the automated system (C. Brown, personal communication, April 23, 2009).

The local school board’s policy should definitely be revised to address confidentiality in

regard to media center records. The revised policy should state that confidentiality and privacy

protection will be observed in each of the system’s media centers. The policy should include a

reference to the applicable Georgia statute and the American Library Association’s position on

confidentiality of school library records. An example of such a school board policy is available

on the University City School District’s Web site at http://ucityschools.org/pages/ Policies

%20and%20Regulations/POL6510.pdf. The school system media policy and the media center

policies of the individual schools should also be revised to include the issues of confidentiality

and privacy.
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Changes in procedures should be implemented at each media center in the school system

to insure maximum confidentiality of library records. Instead of placing lists of students’ overdue

materials in teachers’ boxes, individual notices could be printed for each student, folded, and

stapled so that only the student’s name and room number can be seen (C. Mitchell, June 6,

1998). An alternative would be to place overdue notices in sealed envelopes so that only the

student’s name is visible (Toor & Weisburg, 2007).

The media center committees should meet to discuss ways to manage the Accelerated

Reader program so that long-standing circulation records do not compromise students’

confidentiality. Hough (2002, December 17) recommended in a post on LM-Net that the

configuration of automated systems should be changed so that students’ circulation records are

erased when borrowed materials are returned to the media centers. This would eliminate

circulation logs which are sometimes requested by individuals seeking to examine what types of

materials students have borrowed from the media center.

Another recommended change would be for the media specialists to begin teaching

students about confidentiality and privacy issues. School personnel and parents also need to be

taught (Adams, 2006). Media specialists could provide this instruction to students through

lessons conducted in the media center. School personnel could be trained through presentations

during faculty meetings or specific staff development meetings. Parents could be informed

through newsletters or statements in the student handbooks.

Despite seemingly overwhelming responsibilities and demands on their time, school

library media specialists should make confidentiality and privacy protection for library users a

top priority. There is an abundance of resources available to aid in developing strong, clear

policies, and professional ethics require the enforcement of those policies on a daily basis.
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References

Adams, H.R. (2006). Confidentiality. School Library Media Activities Monthly, 23, 33. Retrieved

April 14, 2009, from http://www.schoollibrarymedia.com/articles/

Adams2006v23n1p33.html

American Association of School Librarians. (1999). Position statement on the confidentiality of

library records. Retrieved April 14, 2009, from http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/

aaslissues/positionstatements/confidentiality.cfm

American Library Association. (2003). Guidelines for developing a library privacy policy.

Retrieved April 20, 2009, from http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/oif/iftoolkits/

toolkitsprivacy/guidelinesfordevelopingalibraryprivacypolicy/guidelinesprivacypolicy.

cfm

American Library Association. (n.d.). State privacy laws regarding library records. Retrieved

April 20, 2009, from http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/oif/ifgroups/stateifcchairs/

stateifcinaction/georgiaprivacy.rtf

COPPA-Children’s online privacy protection act. (n.d.). Retrieved April 21, 2009, from

http://www.coppa.org/comply.htm

Gallion, K. (2008, February 8). Re: [LM_NET]HIT: e-mail overdues. Message posted to

LM_NET electronic mailing list, archived at http://www.eduref.org/plweb-cgi/fastweb?

getdoc+listservs+LM_NET+17821+17+wAAA+Kate%26Gallion

Hough, G. (2002, December 17). Confidentiality Question. Message posted to LM_NET

electronic mailing list, archived at http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/LM_NET-

pre2003/2002/Dec_2002/msg00810.html
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Mitchell, C. (1998, June 16). Re: Confidentiality – long reply. Message posted to LM_NET

electronic mailing list, archived at http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/LM_NET-

pre2000/1998/Jun_1998/msg00656.html

Toor, R., & Weisburg, H. K. (2007). New on the job: A school library media specialist’s guide

to success. Chicago: American Library Association.

United States Department of Education. (n.d.). Family educational rights and privacy act of

1974. Retrieved April, 21, 2009, from http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/

ferpa/index.html