2018 Charleston Library Conference

Personal data on the internet is increasingly owned by the world’s five largest corporations, creating the potential for immense disparities of power.  Artificial Intelligence is being deployed to track ever more aspects of our lives.  Privacy advocates are warning of our rapid descent toward a dystopian society, using terms like ‘Surveillance Capitalism’ and ‘Digital Feudalism’ to describe this growing imbalance of power.

The dangers of privacy invasion are real, and libraries have been rightly cautious in their approach to authentication within their walls. While various Single Sign-On authentication protocols have emerged, there is still a great deal of resistance by libraries to adopt any form of authentication beyond IP.  From the USA PATRIOT Act to electronic resource license agreements, librarians are familiar with the fact that many policies, contracts, and laws impact the way patrons’ privacy is protected within their walls. However, there is little understanding of the ways in which these various contracts, laws, and policies intersect with and/or hinder one another.

Yet, the internet is increasingly delivering valuable personalized tools and experiences that are changing user expectations and demands.  If we in the library community do not proactively establish common authentication methods that strike the right balance between privacy and personalization, it may happen to us and possibly by powers who do not have our patrons’ privacy interests at heart.

This session will present a robust, multi-dimensional discussion and debate about the challenges and opportunities libraries face today around privacy and authentication, including an in-depth expose´of the intersection and interplay of various contracts, laws, policies and agreements within the library.  We’ll hear views from libraries on opposing sides of the spectrum and a representative from JISC will provide a comparative view of the approach taken and protocols adopted in the UK.