Privacy 2.0

As I have been looking at information on social networking in libraries, I have been thinking about privacy and how librarians’ (and other library workers’) attitudes about privacy have had to evolve in the past couple of decades.  When I started working in libraries, one of the big things that was stressed in my training, was that patron information has to stay private.  I was told to never ever tell someone (unless it is a parent inquiring about their under 18 son or daughter) what somebody else has checked out.  Also, when someone returns a book, that book disppears from their record, never to be seen again.   All of this is still important, but attitudes towards privacy, in general, have changed as people are more and more willing to share imformation via web 2.0 technologies. 

I’ve talked about Bookspace before and here I am about to talk about it again.  With Bookspace, people share their own lists of books that they have read or are reading now and it is there for anyone to see.  In that sense, it runs counter to the whole hiding and getting rid of the evidence practice that libraries have engaged in.  And yes, with Bookspace, the sharing of the books one has checked out is voluntary, but I still think that it was probably difficult for a lot of librarians to come to term with libraries encouraging this kind of behavior. 

Also, as libraries are evolving into more social gathering spaces and as there are more, shall I say disciplinary issues, librarians have had to re-evaluate the whole concept of privacy within the library.  For instance, at the library where I work, there are security cameras everywhere.  After a recent violent incident in our library that culminated in a drive by shooting across the street, one staff member brought up the fact that we as library workers  are conditioned to not pay a lot of attention to what people are doing in the library for fear that we are invading their privacy. She wasn’t criticizing the way people were doing their jobs, but only bringing up the fact that we need to re-think how we do things.  It’s not that we have to go up to everyone’s computers and take a peek at what is on their screen or ask anybody who is sitting in some far off corner what they are up to, we just need to be more aware of our surroundings.  

Libraries as social networkers

I realized today that I had gotten a bit behind here.  Just a few thoughts on social networking… I do think that libraries do need to continue to experiment with social networking as I think it is here to stay.  The library where I work has both a facebook and a myspace page.  One of the articles mentioned how  important it is to establish your presence in places where your younger users hang out, so I think libraries that create a presence in these sites are on the right track.  You can add an application on facebook that will allow you to search the catalog from your profile.  You can also become a fan of the library.  Have I done this?  I’m ashamed to say that I have neither added the search box nor have I become a fan of the library.  But then again, I am not the one of the library’s younger users and am already a fan of libraries. 

I have, however, created a profile on my library’s very own social networking page, Bookspace.  While I think libraries should continue to be a presence on social networking sites like facebook and myspace, I also think they need to take a look at Bookspace and consider their own social networking avenues.  As for Bookspace, I can think of some things that may make it even more attractive to users.  One such thing would be to extend the network to include not just books, but other sources of information.  I think it would be great if people could create their own groups, like they can on Facebook, and include links to their favorite websites, videos, etc…  I have this idea of user generated pathfinders of a sort, where people would compile their own list of resources for their subject of interest.  Then other people would have access to these lists and would be able to comment on them.  I think people would have fun sharing the resources they’ve compiled on their subjects of expertise.  I don’t know if this is feasible, but it’s just an idea that I’ve been kicking around in my head.  It would make the whole library social networking more personal and participatory.

Also, I know people really like decorating and personalizing their social networking profiles.  Bookspace only allows a teeny tiny user picture (I know this is probably a bandwith issue, so maybe nothing can be done about this).  I just think that people would be more attracted to Bookspace and similar library social networking if they could make their page more personal. 

As I’ve mentioned, I do really like Bookspace as it is, but I did take a look at the number of profiles that have been created and it really isn’t all that high.  I think libraries need to continue with this sort of thing, but come up with innovative ideas and improvements that will attract more people.