Youth's Rights to Privacy in Libraries

Youth’s Rights to Privacy in Libraries

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Institution

Course: Issues in Libraries

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Abstract

        The paper gives a brief discussion on the privacy and confidentiality laws regarding libraries. It discusses the arguments that tend to infringe on the right to privacy enjoyed by young people that use libraries. Further, the paper also provides a review of the reasons why librarians should observe privacy and confidentiality. The purpose of the discussion is to examine the reasons by groups that propose access of youth’s information in particular situations, and compares them with the benefits of maintaining the privacy in the library. The paper highlights the individual benefits to the students when their personal information, and the information they access, is kept private. It also briefly explains some of the effects of removing privacy rights within the library with specific respect to the learning process of students. It briefly provides alternative recommendations to the ideas that target infringement of the right to privacy within a library setting.

Youth’s Rights to Privacy in Libraries

Introduction

         Technology is constantly changing, information is everywhere. With the majority of the country’s population having access to information and the internet at their fingertips, privacy has become one of the most sensitive issues we are currently facing. This issue becomes of utmost importance in a library setting. The right to privacy guarantees that library users have their personal information, and the records of any information they themselves may have accessed be inaccessible by anyone other than themselves. The laws obligate libraries to ensure that user information is protected, and confidentiality maintained. Current laws require this privacy protection both in their physical, and online library presence. Despite these laws, there are widely discussed and often debated issues regarding the access of information of young people by their teachers, parents, and in some cases, authorities. This paper briefly discusses why it is important to have the rights of privacy respected by parents, educators, and authorities. Why it’s especially important that students, or any young person, not have their library activity monitored by anyone. That they should feel free to access any and all information a library has to offer without a threat of ridicule, punishment or inquesition.

        Different groups have argued that it is important to monitor the information accessed by youth in libraries. They argue that it is imperative to ensure that young people access relevant information related to their study or area of interest. Others argue that monitoring the information accessed by the young people is essential in determining what they are up to or what their primary interests may be. They argue that the monitoring acts as a method of preventing the students from acquiring irrelevant or prohibited information in some cases. The argument is subjected to numerous disparagements because the approach infringes on the basic freedom of privacy which apply to, and should be experienced by everyone.