Amanda Deems
ITEC/FRIT 7132
Spring 2009
Confidentiality Issues 2
There are many different issues to consider when developing policies for school library
media centers. The issue of confidentiality, or privacy, of library records should certainly be
included and clearly defined in any media center policy. Toor and Weisburg (2007) noted that
privacy rights are part of the bigger issue of intellectual freedom. School library media
specialists hold differing opinions on the level of confidentiality that is required by law and what
procedures can vary greatly among schools even though there are federal laws, state laws, and
local school board policies that school library media specialists are expected to follow.
What exactly is meant by the terms confidentiality and privacy in school library media
centers? The “Guidelines for Developing a Library Privacy Policy” states, “In libraries, the right
to privacy is the right to open inquiry without having the subject of one’s interest examined or
scrutinized by others” (American Library Association [ALA], 2003, Introduction section, para
1). In school library media centers, the individuals conducting the inquiries are children, and they
have the same rights to privacy as adults. According to Policy 52.4 of the American Library
materials consulted, borrowed, acquired,’ and includes database search records, interlibrary loan
records, and other personally identifiable uses of library materials, facilities, or services” (The
All individuals who work in school library media centers should be knowledgeable about
national and state laws in addition to the local school board policies (Toor & Weisburg, 2007).
Two federal laws are the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and Children’s
Confidentiality Issues 3
Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). FERPA protects the privacy of students’ education
records (U.S. Department of Education, 2008), and COPPA specifies rules for the online
Privacy laws may vary at the state level. Georgia has a statute, O.C.G. SS 24-9-46, which
addresses confidentiality of library records. According to this statute, circulation records and
other library records that identify the user of library materials shall be confidential records, not
public records. These records can be disclosed to library personnel conducting ordinary library
operations. They can be disclosed upon written consent of the user or the user’s parents in the
case of a minor or upon appropriate court order or subpoena (ALA, 2009). In a post on LM_Net,
Gallion (2008, February 8) urged other media specialists to become familiar with the privacy
laws in their individual states and to refrain from making assumptions about what is acceptable
and not acceptable. She emphasized the need for media specialists to be able to defend their
actions in regard to privacy issues if those actions are brought into question.
Local school board policies on confidentiality do not always specifically address library
records. However, the American Library Association (2003) asserted that school library
personnel should develop board approved policies that ensure privacy protection for all school
library records of students and teachers. In addition, school library personnel should educate
members of the school community and the larger educational community about privacy rights
Currently, the Atkinson County School System has a board policy that addresses
center records. There is also no county or school media center policy that addresses
confidentiality. One media specialist in the county believes that privacy protection is a not a
significant issue at the elementary school level because the collection generally does not contain
materials on sensitive topics like the high school’s collection. There are some media center
procedures that are contrary to best practice recommendations. Overdue book notices containing
the student’s name, the title of the book, and the replacement cost of the book are placed in
teachers’ boxes. The media specialist does not provide requested information to individuals other
than the parents or guardians of a child unless some direction is received from the principal or
assistant principal. Students’ circulation records and Accelerated Reader (AR) records are kept in
the automated system until the students leave the campus to attend the high school. These
records are maintained in order to handle issues of students who cheat on AR tests or repeatedly
lose or damage materials. Only the media specialist is supposed to have access to circulation
records in the automated system (C. Brown, personal communication, April 23, 2009).
The local school board’s policy should definitely be revised to address confidentiality in
regard to media center records. The revised policy should state that confidentiality and privacy
protection will be observed in each of the system’s media centers. The policy should include a
reference to the applicable Georgia statute and the American Library Association’s position on
confidentiality of school library records. An example of such a school board policy is available
%20and%20Regulations/POL6510.pdf. The school system media policy and the media center
policies of the individual schools should also be revised to include the issues of confidentiality
and privacy.
Confidentiality Issues 5
Changes in procedures should be implemented at each media center in the school system
to insure maximum confidentiality of library records. Instead of placing lists of students’ overdue
materials in teachers’ boxes, individual notices could be printed for each student, folded, and
stapled so that only the student’s name and room number can be seen (C. Mitchell, June 6,
1998). An alternative would be to place overdue notices in sealed envelopes so that only the
The media center committees should meet to discuss ways to manage the Accelerated
confidentiality. Hough (2002, December 17) recommended in a post on LM-Net that the
configuration of automated systems should be changed so that students’ circulation records are
erased when borrowed materials are returned to the media centers. This would eliminate
circulation logs which are sometimes requested by individuals seeking to examine what types of
Another recommended change would be for the media specialists to begin teaching
students about confidentiality and privacy issues. School personnel and parents also need to be
taught (Adams, 2006). Media specialists could provide this instruction to students through
lessons conducted in the media center. School personnel could be trained through presentations
during faculty meetings or specific staff development meetings. Parents could be informed
library media specialists should make confidentiality and privacy protection for library users a
top priority. There is an abundance of resources available to aid in developing strong, clear
policies, and professional ethics require the enforcement of those policies on a daily basis.
Confidentiality Issues 6
References
Adams, H.R. (2006). Confidentiality. School Library Media Activities Monthly, 23, 33. Retrieved
Adams2006v23n1p33.html
aaslissues/positionstatements/confidentiality.cfm
American Library Association. (2003). Guidelines for developing a library privacy policy.
toolkitsprivacy/guidelinesfordevelopingalibraryprivacypolicy/guidelinesprivacypolicy.
cfm
American Library Association. (n.d.). State privacy laws regarding library records. Retrieved
stateifcinaction/georgiaprivacy.rtf
COPPA-Children’s online privacy protection act. (n.d.). Retrieved April 21, 2009, from
http://www.coppa.org/comply.htm
Gallion, K. (2008, February 8). Re: [LM_NET]HIT: e-mail overdues. Message posted to
getdoc+listservs+LM_NET+17821+17+wAAA+Kate%26Gallion
pre2003/2002/Dec_2002/msg00810.html
Confidentiality Issues 7
Mitchell, C. (1998, June 16). Re: Confidentiality – long reply. Message posted to LM_NET
pre2000/1998/Jun_1998/msg00656.html
Toor, R., & Weisburg, H. K. (2007). New on the job: A school library media specialist’s guide
United States Department of Education. (n.d.). Family educational rights and privacy act of
ferpa/index.html