Licensing Privacy: What Librarians Want

Librarians are increasingly concerned about the ways in which users of library-licensed resources are being tracked by the third-party providers of these resources. Librarians question if they can, in any meaningful way, offer users assurance of privacy when using library-licensed resources given the current state of user tracking. For librarians, this is deeply troubling given our long-standing commitment to user privacy and confidentiality: "We protect each library user's right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted" (ALA Code of Ethics). The Licensing Privacy project, funded by the Mellon Foundation, has developed a set of resources to help librarians understand these issues and to support librarians and providers working together to better align platform and publisher practices with library values of privacy, confidentiality and respect for user control over their own data.