Should There Be an Expectation of Privacy in the Library?

This article presents the author's claim that although some people feel that there should be no expectation of privacy in a library because it is a public place, the debate on the library's obligation to protect patron privacy will continue, as of June 2005. Whether by happy circumstance or as proof of the timeliness and importance of this issue's theme, discussions of the issue of privacy were prominent in the news as I was working on this column. I am sure that everyone has heard that model Paris Hilton's electronic address book was hacked and that the chief executive officer of the Boeing Co. was forced to resign when private electronic mail about an affair became very public. Despite the media attention given to these two events, patrons who use the public computers in libraries seem totally unconcerned about protecting their personal information. I have seen patrons walk away from computer screens that displayed their banking records or credit card information. Printouts of electronic mail of a very personal nature are routinely found in the public printers at closing time. Perhaps part of the reason that patrons seem so unconcerned about protecting their privacy is that we have become used to having information collected about us and our habits.