ALIGN Panel: Patron Privacy v. Big Data

Authors

Michele Gibney, University of the PacificFollow
Jill Strykowski, San Jose State University

Document Type

Symposium

Organization

California Academic and Research Libraries (CARL): Academic Librarians' Interest Group North (ALIGN)

Location

Zoom

Date of Presentation

7-18-2025

Abstract

The titles of the panel presentations are:

• "Speaking Out Against Data Brokerage in Academic Libraries" (Michele Gibney, UOP and SPARC)
• "Need vs. Interest: Telling the Difference When You're Asked for Data" (Jill Strykowski, SJSU)

When the Patriot Act enabled government to secretly surveil the borrowing and usage activities of library users, librarians adhered admirably to the ALA Bill of Rights tenet of safeguarding patrons' “right to privacy and confidentiality in their library use” by ceasing to maintain borrowing records. Over twenty years hence, usage analytics and patron data are provided to libraries in abundant and granular detail by publishers and database vendors.

While such information provides valuable insight into user habits and preferences to improve services and demonstrate library value, as well as the ability to gauge student research habits to link to student-success initiatives, what has become of the concept of patron privacy? Are libraries at odds with the specificity of vendor-provided user data, or has privacy been sacrificed at the altar of greater insight as it is employed for more targeted collections, instruction, and advising decisions? Do users care about the data collected on them? How is user privacy addressed in resource licensing agreements? How are libraries responding when campus administrators ask for student data from the library? Are libraries alerting users to what data is collected from/about them when they use library services, and how that data is used? How are librarians grappling with these conflicting concepts?

Join ALIGN—CARL's northern California interest group—as we host a panel and group discussion of these issues and what libraries are doing to help slow the erosion of our right to privacy.

Michele Gibney is the visiting program officer for Privacy & Surveillance at SPARC, focusing on raising awareness and developing strategies to address privacy threats in academic libraries. She is also the Head of Publishing and Scholarship Support at the University of the Pacific, where she manages the institutional repository and conducts additional scholarly communications work. She holds an MLIS from San Jose State University (2009), a Master's in Asian Studies from the University of San Francisco (2006), and a B.A. in English from the University of Puget Sound. She is also currently pursuing a doctorate in Informatics from Linnaeus University in Sweden.

Jill Strykowski is the Cataloging and Government Documents Lead at San José State University.

She has a rich background in original cataloging work, archival digitization, library project management, library systems configuration and physical collection maintenance. Her current scholarly interests focus on how library science is impacted by AI tools, linked data, and the data brokering economy.

Ms. Strykowski has a master's degree in Library & Information Science from Long Island University, and another in Archives & Public History from New York University. And she is excited to start her PhD work this fall through the SJSU iSchool's Gateway PhD partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University.

Recommended Citation

Gibney, M., & Strykowski, J. (2025). ALIGN Panel: Patron Privacy v. Big Data.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/libraries-pres/214