City Tech Librarians care about user privacy. Merriam-Webster defines privacy as “the quality or state of being apart from company or observation.” As outlined in our Privacy Policy, City Tech Librarians periodically ensure that students are free to access the information to support their academic pursuits by conducting regular privacy audits.
Why is privacy important?
Librarians have a history of being contemporary advocates for patron privacy. From resisting the FBI’s Library Awareness Program of the 80s to the PATRIOT Act of the early 2000s. It is a core value of the profession. The American Libraries Association explains the importance of privacy below:
“Privacy is essential to free inquiry in the library because it enables library users to select, access, and consider information and ideas without fear of embarrassment, judgment, punishment, or ostracism.”
https://www.ala.org/advocacy/privacy
Besides privacy audits, the City Tech librarians have other tools to assist students, faculty, and staff, for better privacy practices. We have installed the Tor browser, which allows users to access the Internet through a set of server relays to prevent digital tracking. We regularly host privacy workshops that show students better ways to create passwords, what data and metadata that is tracked by search engines and social media platforms, browser tools and extensions to ensure privacy, as well as develop library research guides for resources for better privacy practices.
If you are interested in learning more about digital privacy, the library’s privacy policy, or other privacy related issues, contact Prof. Junior Tidal.
