Academic libraries have been in the information security spotlight due to the resurgence of Silent Librarian. The collection of academic user accounts gives attackers access to whatever the user has access to in the campus network, including personal data. Attackers gaining access to library patron data was not the reason why academic library information security … Continue reading "Security Without Privacy"

People sometimes ask what keeps privacy professionals up at night. What is that one “worst-case scenario” that we dread? Personally, one of the scenarios hanging over my head is insider threat – when a library employee, vendor, or another person who has access to patron data uses that data to harm patrons. A staff person … Continue reading "The Threat Within"

There’s a ritual that kicks off every new quarter in Michelle Luhtala’s library at New Canaan High School, one where English teachers send a gaggle of ...

Metadata Snippet: Drawing on Fobazi Ettarh’s notion of vocational awe, this essay by Lynne Stahl examines the ideological roots of libraries in Enlightenment ideals alongside the increasingly catch-all services offered by contemporary public and academic libraries. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, it calls for greater attention to professional boundaries as not only a matter of personal exigency but also a necessary political step in remediating the institution’s systemic failings.

PLS & ESRT Combating Racism in Libraries Series Main

The usual "libraries are suck factories for anybody/anything new" stuff.

In the wake of the pandemic, can publishers and libraries finally hash out their differences?

Checkouts of digital books from a popular service are up 52% since March.

This chapter will focus on the history and impact of LGBTIQ+ contributions to Wikimedia projects through the personal experience of one WIkipedian.  This chapter will also explore the global thematic chapter Wikimedia LGBT+ and the community it builds and supports.

When selecting a web analytics tool, academic libraries have traditionally turned to Google Analytics for data collection to gain insights into the usage of their web properties. As the valuable field of data analytics continues to grow, concerns about user privacy rise as well, especially when discussing a technology giant like Google. In this article, the authors explore the feasibility of using Matomo, a free and open-source software application, for web analytics in their library’s discovery layer. Matomo is a web analytics platform designed around user-privacy assurances. This article details the installation process, makes comparisons between Matomo and Google Analytics, and describes how an open-source analytics platform works within a library-specific application, EBSCO’s Discovery Service.

Controlled digital lending.

Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

Precious maps, books and artworks vanished from the Pittsburgh archive, and the caper’s final chapter was just written

The coronavirus epidemic has upended every aspect of our lives. For weeks, people have been stuck at home, unable to go to their jobs, see their friends, run errands, or even go outside. Most business...

It is becoming increasingly clear that sexual harassment is a serious problem within libraries. In particular, patron-perpetrated sexual harassment is the sexual harassment of library staff by the very patrons they endeavor to support. In this paper we identify and apply intersectional feminist and critical race and whiteness theories that unearth the structural underpinnings that support patron-perpetrated sexual harassment. We do so both to make this issue visible as well as to offer theoretical frameworks that might be taken up by LIS educators to address this topic within their classrooms. A comprehensive and nuanced examination of gender, race, and their intersections in LIS is necessary to recognize, name, and resist acts of gender-based violence such as patron-perpetrated sexual harassment. We call for a slow interconnected pedagogical approach that connects theory to practice, supports the use of critical theory to rigorously interpret the core values of librarianship, and is supported by the voices and perspectives of those working in libraries.