March Two-Part Webinar

Part 1: What Data is Being Collected and By Whom?
Wednesday, March 16
1:00 - 2:30 PM, EST

In our current information ecosystem, respect for user privacy is a key distinguishing characteristic of libraries. Few have been as vehement and long-standing in their support of people's right to intellectual freedom and privacy protections as librarians. There are core elements of library services that are now provided by third parties, providing user services on behalf of the library. These vendors might not have the same respect for patron privacy as librarians do and in order to ensure consistency in library services, librarians providing access to digital services and content to patrons need a thorough understanding of privacy in a library context.

This two-part webinar series will provide the community with a deeper understanding of the privacy implications of the services they are contracting. Part one of this series will cover the types of data that are being collected about user behavior. Understanding what can be and is being collected, for what purpose, and with whom these data are shared are critical to exerting privacy controls on behalf of patrons. This session will discuss the technical side of how providers collect personal data. Some of this activity is acknowledged by the user, such as for the purpose of personal information management, while at other times it takes place without the awareness of users, or potentially even the library. The webinar will feature three presentations:

• How Advertisers Use Tracking Cookies to Profile Library Users
  Eric Hellman, President, GlueJar
• Understanding and Blocking Invisible Web Trackers
  Alison Macrina, Founder and Director, Library Freedom Project
• The Metadata Mosaic
  Chris Conley, Policy Attorney, ACLU, Northern California

For more information and to register, visit the event page.

Part 2: Understanding Privacy Policies
Wednesday, March 23
1:00 - 2:30 PM, EST

The second part of this series will cover the privacy policies that govern engagement with user services. Some of these policies are dense and full of legal terminology, which few have the time or expertise to comprehend fully. During this session, presenters will break down key components of privacy policies and describe the ramifications of agreeing to these policy terms. This session will provide an overview of privacy policy terminology and a grounding in some of the relevant legal underpinnings of these policies.

Confirmed Speakers include Dan Ayala, Proquest; Lisa Hinchliffe, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and I.J. Aalbersberg, Elsevier.

For more information and to register, visit the event page.

There's still time to check out the 2016 webinar subscription packages, where you can buy 5 and get 4 free or buy 9 and get all of the 14 NISO 2016 webinars.