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The article discusses the relationship between data collection and patron privacy in U.S. libraries. Topics include the role of privacy in learning analytics projects, methods of deidentification to be used in data collection, and the need for responsible data management. Data collection by the Seattle Public Library (SPL) in Seattle, Washington is addressed.

The article reports on the new amendment to the Library Bill of Rights regarding the right to privacy of library users.

The article reports that the American Library Association (ALA) has joined a group of organizations to launch a campaign against the Real ID national identification system of the U.S. The groups believe that Real ID would create a false belief that it is secure and unforgeable. ALA president-elect Loreine Roy says the ALA has expressed concern about standardized machine-readable driver's licenses and national identification cards because of the potential privacy implications for library users.

Reports on the rejection of an effort to block funding for a section of the USA Patriot Act that allows searches of library and bookstore records, by the House of Representatives on July 8, 2004. Position of the American Library Association on the proposed amendment; Opposition to the intrusion of the government on the privacy of library patrons; Criticisms against a report released by the Justice Department on the USA Patriot Act.

Focuses on the opposition of library users to the U.S. Patriot Act. Protest held by four students from the University of California at Santa Cruz over government surveillance of library records; Provisions of the U.S. Patriot Act on library records; Action taken by the Door County Library in Wisconsin.

A survey by the Library Research Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign shows that librarians are sharply divided over how to respond to law-enforcement requests for patron records. "Public Libraries and Civil Liberties: A Profession Divided" shows that only 49% of the 444 libraries asked by law enforcement to voluntarily provide information about patron reading habits and Internet preferences cooperated; the remainder did not. Only 10% of the 906 libraries that responded to the survey have changed patron Internet-use policies in response to USA Patriot Act provisions that simplify the process that allows agents to gain access to library records. The survey also revealed that in the past year federal and local law-enforcement agents visited 545 libraries to ask for patron records; of these, 178 were visits from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). However, these numbers may be low because the act makes it illegal for anyone to disclose that a search warrant was served. Almost 60% of those polled said they thought this secrecy provision was an abridgement of First Amendment rights. Some librarians consider Internet sign-up sheets to be public records that do not require a search warrant.

Discusses the Reference and User Services Association, which includes guidelines for how reference librarians can protect the privacy of their patrons since the passage of the USA Patriot Act. Description of the Guidelines for Information Services, the Guidelines for Medical, Legal, and Business Responses; Effects of the advent of digital reference, especially services that use chat software, on privacy protection; Discussion of the Machine-Assisted Reference Section Virtual Reference Discussion Group.

Comments on the topic of intellectual freedom versus physical security in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. Concern of librarians about First Amendment rights; Anecdote about an Ohio librarian who contacted government officials about a suspicious patron; Issue of whether it is in the best interest of the profession of library science to protect patrons' right to privacy no matter how suspicious their library activities seem to be.