6 Circulation, Fines & Privacy

Circulation is “the library’s effort to assure its users effectively share its resources in the fairest way possible, including determining who may use the resources and for how long, if a person may remove an item from the library, and assuring the material is returned on time (or at least returned).”

–Evans, Saponaro, Christie, & Sinwell, 2015, p. 121

“What might change in your library’s approach to service if materials are always considered the property of users, as opposed to items that the library staff collect and protect?”

–Carrie Valdes, Director of Grand County Public Library, 2023, p. 135

Chapter Overview

The purpose of this chapter is to:

• Emphasize the most important responsibilities that come with working at a library’s Circulation Desk and highlight professional standards that will guide your work.
• Empower you to ask critical questions about library fine policies.
• Share examples from local library technicians’ experiences providing circulation services.

Circulation

Circulation services are the heart of libraries in the U.S. and they are the focus of Access Services. Although the technical procedures you will follow to check books in and out are easy to learn on the job, the responsibilities that come along with working at the Circulation Desk take time to deeply appreciate. By fulfilling these responsibilities, you will earn the trust of library patrons, even if they are not fully aware of everything that goes into your work. This chapter will establish the basics of library circulation and then cover the challenging aspects of charging fines and protecting patrons’ privacy.

Why Are Libraries Allowed to Lend Books?

At first, it may seem strange to ask why libraries are allowed to lend books, since that function is one of the most fundamental for all public libraries as well as most academic and school libraries. It is, however, an important question to consider because copyright laws in the United States protect creators’ and publishers’ rights to control what happens to their intellectual property for several decades after it’s created. But there are a few limitations that the United States has placed on copyright owners’ control of their property. One of these limitations is defined in Section 109 of the United States Copyright Act, which created a legal right called the “first sale doctrine.” Read the following excerpt from The Librarians’ Copyright Companion, which explains the first sale doctrine and how it assures libraries the right to lend most copyrighted materials. Note that if you are reading this book online, the superscript notes in this excerpt are live and you can click on them to see the source of the information. If you are reading this book in print, the notes are not included, but you can access Chapter 2 of The Librarian’s Copyright Companion for free online to view the full document with notes.

Distribution and the First Sale Doctrine

The following excerpt if from 2.2 Section 109 of the First Sale Doctrine:

Owner may sell or otherwise dispose of a lawful copy:

but may not lease or lend sound recordings or computer programs for direct or indirect commercial advantage

library/school lending exemption of sound recordings and computer programs is permitted

Under section 106(3) of the Copyright Act, the right to distribute a copyrighted work is reserved to the copyright owner. But the distribution is limited by the “first sale doctrine”, found in section 109 of the Act.

The first sale doctrine permits the owner of a lawfully made copy of a copyrighted work to lease, lend, rent, sell, or otherwise dispose of the copy without permission.^[7] The term “first sale” refers to the copyright owner’s initial first sale of an authorized copy. Once the owner has made this final sale of a particular copy, the owner has no power under copyright law to control what happens to that particular copy, at least with respect to most types of material.^[8]

For libraries, the first sale doctrine is probably the most important concept in all of copyright law, because libraries couldn’t function without it. Any library open to the public “distributes” work under the meaning of the Copyright Act by lending it.^[9] Thanks to the first sale doctrine, libraries generally don’t incur any liability for these unauthorized distributions, but there’s a catch. As we stated above, the first sale doctrine only applies to authorized copies. If a library distributes an unauthorized copy, the first sale doctrine is of no help and the library will incur liability absent some other defense such as fair use.

At this point, you might be thinking: “Yes, I already know that my library could be liable for making unauthorized copies, so why should I worry about distributing unauthorized copies?” It’s important to understand that copying and distribution are two separate issues, because your library could incur liability for distribution even when it’s not liable for copying. For example, if a donor offers your library a paper copy of a dissertation that he obtained from another library’s microfiche collection, your library won’t be liable for the copying, but it may be liable for distribution if it lends the copy.

[…] When a work is in your collection, it’s being distributed on an ongoing basis, and thus the statute of limitations won’t protect you from a distribution claim.^[11] For libraries, this is the most troublesome aspect of distribution, because you probably don’t know how your library acquired certain items in the distant past. If you know that your collection includes unauthorized copies of protected works, you may want to consider discarding the copies, or at least remove them from the catalog and put them in storage.

[…]

Finally, we need to mention e-books, which are becoming increasingly important to libraries. Unfortunately, the first-sale doctrine is rarely applicable to e-books, because the use of e-books is almost always controlled by license agreements. Just because your library purchases an authorized copy of an e-book doesn’t mean you’re free to share it with your patrons; you must look to your license agreement.^[22]

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

The first sale doctrine is the legal reason why libraries are allowed to buy copies of books, music recordings, magazines, newspapers, journals, etc. and then lend them to everyone. Without the first sale doctrine, the publisher or author who holds the copyright for the material would be able to say that libraries could not lend copies of it, or, at a minimum, the libraries would have to get the copyright holders’ permission before lending out materials, which would be too time intensive for libraries to do. Notice the final statement in the excerpt, which says that electronic book licenses can restrict libraries from lending them. If libraries rely too much on electronic books for their future collections, publishers and other copyright holders will have a lot more power over what libraries can lend. Our ability to maintain Circulation as a core function of libraries may depend on whether copyright holders of electronic resources are willing to compromise with librarians to create licensing agreements that permit distribution.

Circulation Software

Circulation software, the interface that library workers use to keep track of patrons’ records and to check materials in and out, is part of a larger software system called integrated library system (ILS) software or a Library Management System (LMS) (Breeding, 2013). (I will use ILS and LMS interchangeably throughout this chapter.) ILS software also includes the acquisitions and cataloging functions, serials management (i.e., keeping track of the magazines and journals the library subscribes to so that missing issues can be ordered), and interlibrary loan functions. The circulation part of the software is used “to manage the loans, renewals, returns, and overdue processing” and can also “support direct consortial borrowing for libraries that allow patrons to make requests from their partner institutions” (Breeding, 2013, p. 15). That means two or more libraries that have reciprocal borrowing privileges for their users can use the same software to request items from each others’ collections. Because the circulation software in most libraries is part of an integrated system, circulation staff can “use the circulation module to search the catalog, add items to a bibliographic record, and even catalog materials ‘on the fly’” for example when a book gets onto the shelf without being added to the system and the circulation staff need to make a quick record for the item before they check it out (Webber & Peters, 2010, p. 2).

Circulation software systems allow staff to:

• Check to see where a book is supposed to be.
• Get a list of books that are overdue and/or assumed missing.
• See which books are being checked out the most.
• Check a large number of books in or out relatively fast.

Patrons can:

• View a list of what they have checked out.
• Renew their materials without visiting the library.
• Place holds and recalls on items.

Circulation software also affects how libraries protect patrons’ privacy. Paper records were not very private, since they listed the names of people who had checked out the material and they were time consuming to destroy. But because paper records were so hard to search and very few people had access to the records, the information in them was hard to mine. Electronic loan records, on the other hand, keep records in a way that is so easy to access that some people might be tempted by idle curiosity to see what patrons have checked out, but they are also much quicker to destroy than paper records. So most libraries use their circulation software to protect patrons’ privacy by deleting all loan records as soon as the materials have been returned (Evans, Saporano, Christie, & Sinwell, 2015). In this way, libraries do not run the risk of violating patrons’ privacy and breaking state laws by sharing loan records with others. There will be more about protecting library patrons’ privacy below.

Library technicians who work in public services will generally have responsibilities for using circulation software. Currently there are a handful of different circulation software companies that libraries typically use. So if you move from working in one library system to another library system, you are likely to find that each system uses a different circulation software. Although it can be challenging to learn new circulation software, the good news is that most circulation software performs the same basic functions in similar ways, so a little training and a little trial-and-error usually will make you proficient with the patron registration, checking out, and checking in functions of new circulation software in a few days or a week. Learning less common functions like waiving fines, adjusting due dates, running overdue reports and other reports will take most people longer because they practice those skills less frequently. Library techs who participated in interviews for this project universally reported that learning to use circulation software was not hard and that after a brief training they were able to do most things on their own. But several also acknowledged that their circulation software included functions that they had not yet learned how to use.

All Circulation software does the following:

• Reduces user error by generating alerts when information is entered incorrectly.
• Allows staff and patrons to identify what materials patrons have checked out.
• Calculates fines and keeps a record of what has been paid.
• Shows patrons’ borrowing restrictions (usually restrictions are based on unpaid fines or replacement costs, but restrictions can also be related to the type of library card a patron was eligible for, which I will cover in more detail below)
• Displays the date when the checked-out materials are due back.
• Allows patrons to put a hold or reservation on an item that is checked out to someone else so that they will be notified when the item is returned.
• Allows staff to recall an item that is checked out, alerting the patron who has the item that they need to return it sooner than they had expected.
• Sends automated notices to patrons about their due dates, fines, recalls, and holds.
• Generates reports about the collection and about circulation trends.

Library Techs’ Role in Circulation

Most library techs who work with the public spend many hours each week performing circulation duties. The following is a list of the roles that library techs play at the Circulation Desk.

Applying and Explaining Policies

Since libraries’ circulation procedures are meant to create fairness, it is important for library patrons to understand their rights and responsibilities when checking out library materials. The library technician is usually the person who works directly with patrons as they are checking materials out or in. It is therefore the tech’s role to make sure that patrons understand how long they can keep the materials and what will happen if they return materials late or lose them.

When materials set off the alarm gates

Most libraries have systems in place that are intended to deter theft of library materials. Items in the collection have tags attached that set off a sensor at the exit door, unless the items have been properly checked out at the circulation desk and the tags on the items are desensitized. Public library tech Elisa Hernandez described the delicate approach she takes when patrons set off the exit alarms by leaving the library with materials that are not checked out. Since the exit alarms are used to catch people who are intentionally stealing materials, patrons often feel embarrassed or defensive when the alarms sound. So Elisa gently asks people to return to the Circulation Desk when the alarms sound. If initially the patrons keep walking after the exit alarm goes off, she says something like, “Excuse me, but when that beeps, please, you need to stop and check.” She also says, “Excuse me, but one of your books wasn’t checked out. It could be the machine didn’t grab it at the same time or you put too many books.” This statement does not accuse anyone of trying to steal materials and focuses on fixing the problem by checking out the materials correctly instead of focusing on assigning blame. Elisa explains that she has no way of knowing whether the patron tried and failed to check out the materials or if they intentionally tried to leave without checking them out, but her approach makes people feel okay about being stopped and avoids generating conflict. This is a great reminder that even when patrons make errors or misunderstand library policies, the library tech’s responsibility is to continue to offer excellent service and maintain a hospitable environment.

Blocked patrons

Many patrons will not know, remember, or want to recall that they are blocked from checking out library materials because of unpaid fines or lost materials charges. The library tech at the Circulation Desk is likely to be the one who has to explain the hold and help the patron to manage their frustration and embarrassment about being blocked. If there are alternative options for patrons to clear their blocks, such as an amnesty period during the year or a program of accepting food or other in-kind donations instead of paying money for a fine or lost item, then the library tech should be familiar with those programs. Library workers should proactively inform patrons about alternatives to paying fines or fees so that patrons do not have to know to ask about them.

Materials ineligible for checkout

Some patrons will not realize that there are library materials that do not circulate—for example reference books and current magazines. So sometimes patrons will bring materials to the Circulation Desk or self-checkout that are not eligible for check-out. The library tech’s responsibility is to explain the reason why non-circulating items cannot be checked out, to explain the patron’s options for making a copy of the content that they need by using the library’s photocopiers and scanners or by using a free photo to PDF conversion app on their smartphone, like PDFelement or Scanbot. In addition, whenever possible, the library tech should connect the patron with the content they need by either helping them to find similar materials that are available for checkout or by introducing the patron to a librarian who can help them find similar materials.

Patron Registration

When people sign up for a library card, they fill out a patron registration form. Because school and academic libraries automatically register all students, faculty, and staff, most library techs working at those libraries do not usually carry out patron registration procedures. But academic library techs may have to register a new patron when an eligible community member pays for a membership. And both school and academic library techs may have to check and update patrons’ registration records to add a new address or preferred name. Public library techs, on the other hand, may be processing dozens of patron registrations a day. Patron registration at public libraries often starts online, where patrons fill out their personal information and are granted immediate access to online library materials. Then, when the patron wants to complete their registration and become eligible to check out physical materials from the library, they go in-person and bring a photo ID and other documents that prove their address for the library tech to provide them with a library card.

The Information Collected by the Library

Professional guidelines for library workers state that patron registration should only collect the minimum amount of personal information necessary to facilitate communication with the patron about materials they have requested and materials that are overdue. The circulation software that is included with Library Management Systems often provides fields for a lot of other personal details beyond the patron’s name and contact information. These patron registration forms can be customized by the library to remove unnecessary questions and, if they have not been customized, the library tech who is performing the registration can skip the questions that are not needed. For example, many patron registration forms will default to ask if the patron is male or female. Some believe that collecting patrons’ gender data “can be used for marketing to patrons or for reading recommendations” but as library data privacy consultant, Becky Yoose (2021), explains, these reasons rely on gender stereotypes and if the data are used in this way, it is likely “to do more harm than help” (para. 5). Since the patron’s sex and gender are not relevant pieces of information for the library record, library professionals now recommend that this question be removed from or skipped over when completing patron registration (Sandberg, 2015). On the other hand, if your library is part of an organization that has not yet updated its policies about using peoples’ preferred names rather than insisting on only using peoples’ legal names, then the Nickname or Notes section of a patron’s registration form can be a great place to indicate how a patron would like to be addressed so that the library techs who work with them for the first time in the future can use their correct name and refer to them accurately.

When patrons do not have government issued identification

Although still rare, some library systems began offering an enhanced library card in 2018, which can serve as photo ID for patrons who have trouble obtaining a photo ID through other agencies. Though the library-issued ID cards are not recognized for the purposes of voting or getting through airport security, the IDs can help people “‘get electricity, rent an apartment, open a bank account, or pick up their children from school’” (Balzer, 2022, p. 12). The enhanced library cards fill a need for “immigrant and undocumented communities [as well as] unhoused people, formerly incarcerated individuals, folks working toward ID recovery following fraud or a natural disaster, and LGBTQ people in need of gender-affirming identification” (Balzer, 2022, p. 12). The attorneys advising the libraries in Harris County, Texas, where the enhanced library cards were being piloted in 2018, explained that there was no legal barrier to providing enhanced library cards but that no one could be required to accept the library cards as legal identification (Balzer, 2022). Despite the limitations of enhanced library cards as photo IDs, they have been very popular in Harris County, where the library reported that they issued 2,000 enhanced library cards in the first two months that they were offered (Balzer, 2022). Read more about the enhanced library card policies at Harris County Public Library.

When patrons do not have a mailing address

Starting in the 1990s and gaining momentum in the 2010s, many public libraries found innovative ways to extend library borrowing privileges to people who are chronically unhoused or who do not have a mailing address for other reasons. One of the reasons that public libraries collect patrons’ mailing addresses is “in order to sort out state and local funding for loan services” (Landgraf, 1991, p. 946). They also collect mailing addresses to have a location where they can send overdue notices and bills. Because the risk of losing library materials without having any recourse to collect replacement fees increases when a patron does not have a permanent address where overdue notifications can be sent, the library cards offered to unhoused people usually limit the number of library items that they can check out at one time. Despite this limitation, libraries that offer borrowing privileges for people who are unhoused usually call these “reduced barrier library cards” because they have eliminated the barrier created by the typical library requirement that patrons must show proof of their address when they register. In addition to limiting the number of books patrons can check out, reduced barrier library cards also typically eliminate late fines and some also eliminate charges for lost items and for replacement library cards (Marshall & Ottenbreit, 2015). Some libraries that offer reduced barrier library cards also set the cards to expire every six months, with the goal of requiring regular Interactions between the library and marginalized patrons (Marshall & Ottenbreit, 2015). Your public library may offer a reduced barrier library card option, but you might not be aware of it because most libraries do not publicize the option anywhere but at shelters and other organizations that provide services to unhoused people in the community that the library serves (Marshall & Ottenbreit, 2015).

To read about the process that San Francisco Public Library (SFPL) leaders and community stakeholders went through to create one of the first reduced barrier library card programs, read “Library Cards for the Homeless” published in American Libraries in 1991. Although the early policies were so restrictive that only people with a letter from a social service provider could apply, SFPL now offers what it calls a Welcome Library Card Account option which requires only one form of ID to verify the patron’s name. The Welcome library card grants the patron full access to the computers in the library and online resources and also allows the patron to borrow one item at a time (“What documents”, 2023). The Welcome library card expires every four years and can be renewed (“What documents”, 2023).

The Information Provided by the Library

During the registration process, patrons should get information about the library’s policies, patrons’ responsibilities, and patrons’ rights.

Patron responsibilities

Many library patrons become self-sufficient quickly when using a new library, so the registration process is the only time you’ll be sure that the patron will interact with library staff. Being enthusiastic, welcoming, and informative will create a good experience for the patron and may influence how they value the library. When assisting someone to complete their registration and receive their library card, make sure to provide them with basic information about how many items they can borrow at once, what the typical loan periods are for different types of materials, what will happen if they return an item late or do not return an item, how they can request items from other libraries and place holds on items that are checked out, and how they can learn about other library services and what programs the library offers each week. If the library has a written code of conduct, it may also be helpful to provide it or direct patrons’ attention to it when they register for a library card so that they can understand the expectations for sharing space with others when using the library.

Patron rights

The registration process is also an important time for providing patrons with information about how the library protects their privacy. Patrons should be informed that the library does not keep records of what they have checked out after their items are returned. For library systems, and even individual library workers, who highly value patrons’ privacy, the library registration process could also be a time to provide a flyer with tips about strengthening their own privacy protections when using the library computers as well as any other time when they are online.

Checking Materials Out and In

Although some libraries have added self-service options for checking materials out and have automated the process of checking materials in, library workers in Access Services still have responsibilities for these procedures, especially when there is a glitch and something needs to be fixed or a judgement needs to be made. This section starts with a description of the hardware that is used to control the library materials and then briefly covers some of the work that library techs do to make sure that circulation proceeds smoothly and to assess materials that they handle during the circulation process.

Barcodes and RFID

Part of protecting the library’s collection from theft and loss is knowing where the materials are supposed to be and knowing when an item leaves the library without being checked out to a patron. Since the 1980s, libraries have used barcodes to assign a unique code to each item. Barcodes are the stickers placed in library books and on library cards to identify them. Barcodes can be read by an optical scanner and they are different from call numbers because each item has a unique barcode even if it is one of multiple copies of the same book and therefore has the same call number as other books.

Starting in the 2000s, some libraries began using RFID to identify each library item. RFID is radiofrequency identification and instead of applying barcodes, library materials each get an electronic tag that is “programmed with a unique identifier” like the number on the barcode (Breeding, 2008, p. 20). RFID tags can be read by machines at a greater distance and requiring less precise positioning than barcodes which can make self-checkout, inventory, and sorting easier. RFID tags are significantly more expensive than barcodes, sometimes costing $3 for each tag. But some libraries see it as a good investment since it facilitates automation, which can reduce the cost of staff in the long-run.

Barcodes and RFID for Circulation

In most libraries, patrons and library materials are all assigned unique barcodes and these codes are used to connect patrons’ records with the item records of everything they have checked out (Evans, Saporano, Christie, & Sinwell, 2015). An optical scanner is used at staff or self-checkout stations to read the barcodes into the software.

The RFID tag, on the other hand, does not just identify the item, it can also communicate with the exit-control gates of the library. Although it is uncommon, libraries could also tag library cards with RFID and automatically check out a book to the person carrying it as they exited through the security gates (Breeding, 2008). Usually, libraries that use RFID still require materials to be manually checked out either by staff or at a self-checkout kiosk before patrons leave the building. When materials in an RFID enabled library are returned, an automated material handling system can be used to sort the items on a conveyor belt into subject-area bins to facilitate reshelving.

Barcodes and RFID for Security

Although barcodes allow the library to identify specific items, they do not enhance security on their own. Libraries that use barcodes usually also use metallic “tattle-tape” inside of the books and other materials as part of their security system (Breeding, 2008). This metal tape can be magnetized and de-magnetized, which will determine whether the exit-control gates will alarm. RFID tags, on the other hand, combine the functions of identifying the item and setting off the exit alarms when the tags have not been desensitized. Sometimes library workers will find tattle tape discarded in the library by someone who wants to steal the material. There is no way to tell from the recovered tattle tape which item was stolen. On the other hand, if a thief were to remove an RFID tag in order to steal an item, the recovered tag would show which item was removed unless the tag was severely damaged.

Staff-facilitated checkout vs Self-checkout

Many libraries offer both self-checkout and traditional staff-facilitated checkout options for patrons. As library administrators, Evans, Saponaro, Christie, and Sinwell explain, self-checkout units “are not inexpensive to acquire but do provide long-term saving—primarily in salaries” (2015, p. 122). What they mean is that library leaders will schedule fewer library techs every hour because patrons can check out their own materials and the old days are gone when many libraries needed two or more staff at the Circulation Desk at the same time to make sure that long checkout lines did not form. Much like grocery stores that have added self-checkout options, libraries still schedule some Circulation staff so that patrons can get quick assistance if they are having trouble with the equipment or they are trying to check out something like an encyclopedia volume that is not eligible to circulate. When you are providing circulation services at a library with self-checkout machines, make sure that you are very familiar with the kiosk interface because patrons who have not been able to complete their checkout themselves will expect help to be efficient and effective. When providing staff-facilitated check-out, be mindful of patrons’ time and circumstances. For example, many public library users have small children (having a child under 6 years old is highly correlated with using public libraries (Lopez, Caspe & McWilliams, 2016)) and having to wait in line while library techs chat with patrons or with each other may contribute to parents’ difficulty keeping their children calm and quiet in the library. So being friendly and efficient at the Circulation Desk will tend to result in the best quality service for most patrons.

Loan control

Most libraries rely on exit-gates to help minimize theft of library materials. But library staff also play an important role in what is sometimes called loan control, which means restricting what can be removed from the library. Specialized libraries that include rare books or archives generally have a mission that prioritizes protecting the materials more than providing easy access to them, so they have tight controls over what they lend and even sometimes control who can enter the library to ensure that the people using the materials have what the library administrators consider to be legitimate reasons for needing the resources. Library techs in these specialized libraries have significant responsibilities for staying watchful and noticing if materials that are not eligible for circulation are being taken by patrons. Most libraries, including public, school, and college libraries, on the other hand, “have very limited preservation goals and their access method is more open, with only modest controls in place” (Evans, Saponaro, Christie, & Sinwell, 2015, p. 119). This means that the libraries prioritize access more than protecting the collection, but library techs are still expected to be aware of their surroundings and create a presence of authority that discourages patrons from intentionally leaving the library with materials they have not checked out.

Noting damage

Library workers should take notice of damaged items so that they can be removed from the collection to be repaired or replaced. Look for damage when checking items out and in, since it is efficient to notice the condition of library materials when you are already handling them. You will likely need to make a judgement call about the degree of damage and whether the item should be pulled or allowed to keep circulating. Allowing a slightly damaged item to continue circulating may be the best option if your library is not likely to be able to replace the copy quickly. Elementary school LMTs who I spoke to for this textbook described large backlogs of damaged books that they have had to remove from the collection but that they do not have the time to repair onsite nor the money to replace. If an item is so damaged that it is no longer usable or it seems likely that normal use by the next patron who checks it out is likely to result in irreparable damage, then the item should be pulled from the collection and flagged in the tech services software so that it no longer shows up as available in the catalog.

Sorting returns

When books are returned, they have to be sorted so that they are in call number order to make reshelving easier. Some libraries with high circulation rates and RFID capabilities have bought automated sorting machines that do part of this work. Elisa Hernandez, Library Associate II at Escondido Public Library, demonstrated her library’s sorting machine for me when I visited. The machine moves the returned items along a conveyor belt and sensors recognize the classification of each item. Books are sorted by call number range and media gets sorted together. Fiction gets sorted by authors’ last initials and Biographies get sorted together. Childrens books also get sorted together. The materials fall into large, wheeled bins and staff replace the bins when they get full. Staff remove the items from the bins and then still have to take the final step of putting items in call number order onto carts called book trucks that staff use to move the items to the shelves where they belong. Some library systems employ pages or student workers who reshelve the books, but other systems include shelving in library techs’ responsibilities.

Search and Hold Procedures

Library techs may also be responsible for searching the shelves for lost items that are believed to still be in the library. Items that are mis-shelved are essentially lost even though they are still on-site. And although a regular schedule of shelf-reading will often identify mis-shelved items to be replaced in their correct location, sometimes a book is requested or a patron says that they returned a book and so a staff will start a search for a specific call number.

Library techs will also, usually, be the ones to process holds. Holds are when a patron requests an item that is currently checked out. When the item is returned, library staff have to notice the message on the circulation screen and put the item aside, the patron is then contacted to let them know that the item they requested is available. Although ALA warned against the practice in 2011 because of privacy concerns, many public libraries put the patron’s name on the book and then put the item on an accessible Holds shelf so that the patron does not have to ask staff to retrieve it. Other options that protect patrons’ privacy and still facilitate access include:

use of pseudonyms, codes, numbers, or other means that mask personally identifiable information; and the use of methods that obscure the identity of library user requests and the items requested through the practice of packaging the items inside an envelope or a reusable bag to hold the item, or wrapping them in a full sheet of paper, or an equivalent option. (Perez, 2011, para. 15)

As a library tech, you might have a role in helping patrons to place holds. People who are new to using libraries are unlikely to be familiar with this option, so if you are talking with a patron who wants an item that is currently checked out, make sure to mention the Holds option and be ready to show the patron how to log into the integrated library system to place a hold.

Running Reports

There are three main reasons why library workers would need to run reports from the circulation software:

• Reason 1: Inventory and Collection Control – Reports that list overdue items, long overdue items, and lost items make it easier for library workers to focus efforts on tracking down books that patrons are likely to return to the library if they are just reminded to do so. Inventory is usually a more intensive process in which library workers compare the reports generated by their circulation software with what they can actually find on the shelves in the library to notice if any items that appear to be available in the software are actually missing from the shelves. When items that appear in the circulation software are missing from the shelves, then those items are typically assumed lost and are removed from the ILS so that the library catalog is an accurate list of what the library actually holds.
• Reason 2: Evaluation and Planning – Most circulation software offers a variety of standardized reports that library workers are likely to find helpful when they evaluate how well the library collection is serving patrons and when they are planning for purchases or other changes.
  • Here are some of the types of circulation data reports that librarians Evans, Saponaro, Christie and Sinwell (2015) recommend for evaluation and planning:
    • The number of items circulated, recorded by type of material (book, video, government document, etc.) and by status of user (adult, juvenile, student, faculty, and so forth), and by time of day.
    • The number of items circulated by subject (usually determined by classification number).
    • The amount of fine money received.
    • The number of questions answered at the circulation desk.
    • The number of items used in the library [without being checked out].
    • The number of items requested and either supplied or not supplied.
    • The number of ILL and document delivery requests filled and not filled.
    • The number of people who come into the library (using automated door counters [that connect the counter software to the circulation software]).
    • The number of materials lost or missing. (p. 139)

By running and analyzing these reports, library managers have data to help them in “assessing current levels of performance and comparing them with past and desired levels; diagnosing problem areas; monitoring progress toward the library’s goals and objectives; planning for the future; justifying, internally and externally, resource allocations; and documenting service improvements” (Evans, Saporano, Christi, & Sinwell, 2015, p. 139). Other decisions that can be optimized when library workers use relevant circulation data include buying “additional titles on the topic or extra copies of heavily loaned items,” “planning marketing and promotional activities and perhaps new service locations” based on the demographics of registered borrowers, and “thinking through borrowing policies [because] data about overdue materials and fines may indicate that loan periods ought to be reevaluated” or that fines may be disproportionately impacting patrons from specific neighborhoods or backgrounds (Evans, Saporano, Christie, & Sinwell, 2015, p. 121). Professional organizations like the American Library Association, American Association of School Librarians, Public Library Association, the Association of College & Research Libraries, the California Library Association, etc. regularly offer training and publications to help library workers become more skilled at using data to make decisions.

• Reason 3: Advocacy – Some managers and administrators will be open to considering library workers’ requests for more funding, more hours, new books in a particular subject area, and so forth, if the library workers have data that suggest patrons will benefit from the changes. Lora Diaz, a high school LMT II, described how she used circulation reports about the age of the books in her library’s collection to advocate for weeding a significant proportion of books. Then fewer books required fewer shelves and Diaz was able to advocate to have surplus bookshelves removed and replaced with additional seating in the library, expanding studying and socializing spaces. Diaz also described her plans to use circulation reports that show an increase in the number of books students checked out after the library eliminated overdue fines to advocate for an increase in her materials budget in the coming year so the library could purchase new titles in popular areas.

Fines

Based on the reactions I get when I tell people I work in a library, the first thing that people associate with libraries is the Dewey Decimal System, the second thing they think of is being shushed and, very close behind that, they think of overdue fines. Although fines have been considered a defining feature of libraries for generations, that has started to change rapidly in the past 5 years. Nevertheless, collecting fines may be part of your work in Circulation services. This section will explain how to work with money if you are a tech in a library that collects fines and will also explain replacement fees, which most libraries still charge even if they have eliminated overdue fines. In the next chapter I will summarize how people may disagree about the purpose and necessity of charging overdue fines and give examples of how libraries have adjusted their policies to try to reduce the disproportionately negative impact that fines have on people who are already marginalized by library services.

Managing Cash Payments for Fines

Making Change

Most library techs won’t ever have to think much about counting out the correct change because your circulation system will allow you to enter the amount paid, will subtract the amount owed from the amount paid, and will then show you the total amount of change that you need to return to the patron. But if the system isn’t working for some reason or you entered the wrong number or if you sell anything like pencils, paper, or used books in your library then you may need to be able to use a counting-up method of making change to be able to quickly and accurately provide correct change. There are lots of videos online that teach you about this and I recommend watching a few of those and practicing on your own. Here are the basic steps, adapted from the WikiHow page “How to Give Back Correct Change” (2021).

Make sure you and the patron both know how much money you were given for the payment. If it is multiple bills and coins, count it out onto the counter in front of both you and the patron and state the total amount. If it is just one bill, state the amount.

Count up from the amount of the fine or the purchase to the amount of money the patron gave you. For example, if the fine is $1.05 and the patron gave you a $5 bill, start at $1.05 then count coins from the cash drawer up to $2.00, then count bills from the cash drawer up to $5.

Count out loud as you add the coins and bills so that the patron and you both hear the running count and can notice any errors.

Patrons might give you an odd amount of bills or coins so that they will get back less change or get change in the denominations that they prefer. The counting up method still works in these cases. The example from WikiHow uses the scenario of a customer paying for a meal. In their scenario, the meal cost $112.31 and the customer paid the waiter with 6 $20 bills, one nickel and one penny. The waiter counts the money paid and it totals $120.06. The $0.06 makes counting up tricky, so the waiter subtracts the $0.06 from the amount owed and the amount paid so that the mental math will be easier and they will be less likely to make a mistake when counting the change. This leaves the waiter with the equivalent of $112.25 owed and $120 paid. Now counting up is easy because the waiter can start with quarters and know they’ll get to the correct total amount of change. So they count up from $112.25 to $113.00 using the first three quarters. Then they count up the dollar bills, and two $1 bills count up to $115.06. Finally, they count up using one $5 bill to get to $120.06, which is the original amount the customer paid. So the amount of change they return to the customer is $7.75.

Balancing a Cash Register

Most libraries, even large public libraries, do not handle enough cash during the day to require extremely strict cash drawer accountability like the way grocery store checkers have to secure their own cash drawer, bringing it to the register when they start their shift and removing it from the register when they leave. But library techs may still be responsible for counting out and reconciling the Circulation Desk cash drawer. You should expect to be trained on-the-job for this responsibility, but it will help you to already have a sense of the procedures and the reasons behind them. The following summary is based on “Procedures for Balancing a Cash Drawer” (Parpal, 2015), a page which used to be provided by Food Service Warehouse and which is still viewable through the Internet Archive.

The cash register should have a set “beginning cash amount,” which is how much money is in the drawer when the library opens each day (Parpal, 2015, para 3). Library management should establish what the beginning cash amount for the register is supposed to be and the staff who open the library should check it each morning. If there is more than the expected beginning cash amount, that means the cash register was not balanced the last time the library closed and that the balancing procedure should be completed before the register is used that day.

To balance a cash drawer, which is usually done when the library closes, follow these steps, adapted from “Procedures for Balancing a Cash Drawer” (Parpal, 2015).

Get a report from the register. The register should be able to print out a report or you should have all of the day’s register receipts before you start counting the money in the drawer. The report or receipts will show you what transactions happened that day and the total that ought to be in the drawer.

Find a safe place to count. The cash drawer comes out of the register, so it should be taken to a back room where staff can handle the cash without the public around.

Count the total amount in the drawer. Use a cash-drawer check-out sheet to record the totals, like this Cash Box Tally Sheet.

Compare the totals. The amount you counted from the drawer and the cash register report or receipts total should match. If there is more money than the register showed there should be, that’s an overage. An overage typically means that a library worker did not provide correct change to a patron or a library worker conducted a transaction without correctly recording it in the register. If there is less money in the drawer than the register showed there should be, that’s a shortage. Like an overage, a shortage can mean that a staff person did not provide correct change or did a transaction without correctly using the register. But a shortage could also mean that someone has stolen money from the register. So, any shortage that is more than a dollar or shortages that happen consistently may require intervention by a library manager to figure out what is happening and work with staff to fix the problem.

Remove the bills and coins that are over the beginning cash amount that the drawer is supposed to have. Put the money into a deposit envelope and put it in the library’s safe so it can be taken to the bank and deposited later.

Balancing the library’s cash register regularly will help to minimize the effects of innocent errors as well as intentional theft.

Replacement Fees

Charging patrons to replace library materials that they damaged beyond repair, lost, or took seems to make a lot of sense because the patron who checked out the material entered into a contract with the library that they would be responsible for the library’s materials while they had them in their possession and the patron should be accountable for making sure the same material or similar material is available for the next patron who needs it. But replacement fees actually raise some interesting and challenging questions because they can create a serious barrier for financially-strapped patrons. When reviewing replacement fee policies, library workers need to consider:

How the fee will be calculated: Will the library charge the patron the cost of the book when it was new, the current cost of an exact replacement, or a flat fee regardless of the value of the material that is lost. Libraries can also choose to let patrons provide a replacement copy of the missing material and the library workers have to define the details about whether the replacement the patron provides has to be exactly the same version as the one lost or just be the same work (for example, will the library accept a paperback to replace a hardback of the same title?). And if the library accepts the patron’s replacement item, some libraries still charge the patron a processing fee while others do not.

Which items the library expects to replace: Since most libraries weed their collections to remove materials that are no longer useful to the community, some library workers have started to recognize that it is not fair to patrons to charge them to replace books that the library workers would have likely weeded soon because of their age or condition (Valdes, 2023).

Any exceptions to the replacement fee policies or any non-money options for clearing replacement debts (like reading down or donating canned goods) should be offered to anyone owing replacement fees. Some libraries have policies that automatically clear fines or fees in certain circumstances. For example, most school libraries and some public libraries will automatically waive children’s replacement fees at the end of each school year so that the students can start fresh without any blocks on their library card at the start of the next school year.

The high school LMT IIIs I interviewed for this textbook described the following experiences with charging replacement fees:

Yvonne Brett, LMT III at San Marcos High School, described trying to balance the replacement fee policy with the library workers’ goals for student library use:

we make deals with [the students]. It’s like, ‘Hey, how about you? You know, do you have a book? I’ll take a different book in exchange.’ We’re not hardline about any of this stuff. And with the textbooks, a lot of times they can buy them online for a fraction of the price and it’s like, ‘Yep, we’ll take that as an exchange.’

Lora Diaz, LMT III at Mission Hills High School, explained,

We are really flexible about [charging for replacements] too. If it’s a textbook, it has to have the same ISBN because we only have certain books that have been approved by the district to be taught, so they have to be the correct edition and that’s a little bit more of a narrow window. But if, for instance, if this book went missing, first thing we would do is mark it lost and we’ll probably have to replace this one anyway. So what we do is we would charge [the student] the full cost. Let’s say that the water damage was bad enough, it was moldy or something, and then we would charge them for the full replacement cost, which is whatever we paid for it. However, we do accept direct replacements. So if they were to find [a copy of] this book, even if it was not hardcover, it doesn’t matter if they were to find this copy, we would prefer to have a book than the money, because the money [from replacement fee payments] doesn’t always go to where we can access it directly. We would rather have a copy as a replacement.

Carrie Valdes (2023), a library director in Utah who started out as a library assistant, describes her early-career experiences with a college student who could not graduate because of replacement fees he could not afford to pay and a family who she did not allow to apply for replacement library cards after the children’s cards were blocked for items lost when their mother went to prison. At the time of these events, Valdes followed library policy and, although contributing to these patrons’ struggles caused Valdes stress, she did not see any alternative because charging replacement fees seemed like the only way to responsibly run a library. Years later she learned about alternative approaches and has now led her library in the process of changing replacement fee policies. Here Valdes (2023) explains the policy change and provides a useful example:

A few years ago, our library was all over local social media because someone was trying to help her friend raise enough money to replace the books she had lost a decade ago. However, the patron checked out women’s health information ten years before that was already five years old at the time of checkout, and the last thing I wanted was a replacement item covering women’s health issues when that information was at least fifteen years old! […] In 2018, [the library board] recommended that the fee for lost or damaged items be changed from ‘cost of item’ to ‘replacement cost.’ If we are not going to replace the item, we do not charge the patron. If the lost or damaged item was already replaced [by the library before the patron was charged], there is no reason to replace it again. […] This is why it is so important we replace needed overdue materials in a timely manner. With our new mission, we recognize that materials have a short shelf life and people make mistakes. I am constantly asked about people ‘taking advantage,’ but we have not found this to be a problem. We do not have more materials going overdue than we did before, and hopefully those lost materials are somewhere in the community being used. (pp. 131-132)

The example Valdes shares shows that our assumptions about the effects of library policies like charging replacement fees that seem obvious can be mistaken. By taking time to reflect on the negative effects of library policies that may be outweighing the benefits we are hoping to achieve, we can find alternatives that benefit the community and strengthen the library.

Privacy

Because it has become so easy to access information over the past 30 years, some wonder what role libraries still have. One way that library workers distinguish ourselves from tech and other fields that are also responsible for connecting people with information is that we make users’ privacy our top priority. Our priority for privacy comes ahead of our desire to collect data that we can use to make library services more attractive or that we can use to promote libraries. We still do collect data, but in a much narrower way than tech companies like Google do. When YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said in 2018 that YouTube can be described as a library, library commentator Sarah Roberts quickly pointed out the errors in this comparison. Not only is YouTube, and other similar platforms, not organized to optimize access but instead to optimize advertising and time spent online, but all social media platforms, including YouTube as well as Google (which owns YouTube), Meta/Facebook, Instagram (which is owned by Meta), TikTok, and so forth, treat “user data and user behavior as material to be extracted, analyzed, aggregated and sold [because] this process of data mining and manipulating is the economic engine of social media platforms” (Roberts, 2019, para. 4). Tech companies engage in manipulating user behavior, often through emotional appeals, to increase user time on their sites and consequently exposure to advertisements. In a world where almost all access to information that doesn’t cost money requires users to trade their personal information in exchange for the access, library work is one of the last fields that helps people to protect their privacy. This sets library workers apart and is at the heart of a lot of the tasks that we carry out in the library.

Privacy Related Standards and Guidelines from ALA

As a library worker, you will carry out the policies of your library and you are also maintaining the standards of the whole profession. Library workers have professional values that set us apart from other people who work with technology and information access because we “prize learning, openness, intellectual freedom and safety, intellectual honesty, and diversity” above all other values like efficiency, profit, or prestige (Lankes, 2022, slide 30). The American Libraries Association (ALA) helps library workers to understand and uphold a wide range of professional standards, including privacy standards. So when you have questions about why specific policies are in place in your library or when you are in a position to recommend new policies or procedures, it’s a good idea to check ALA’s website for explanations and examples. Because these come from a national organization with a long history, their standards can also help you to support your proposals to make changes to policies or procedures at your library or to give reasons why a policy or procedure that will harm patrons and library workers should not be implemented.

Library Privacy Guidelines for Library Management Systems

This set of guidelines, approved for the first time by the Intellectual Freedom Committee of the ALA in June 2016 and most recently updated in April 2022, covers the necessary privacy features of the software that libraries use for their library management system (LMS)—also called an integrated library system (ILS)—as well as what library workers should keep in mind about privacy when using the software. These guidelines re-enforce the importance of limiting what information we request from patrons on registration forms. For example, the policy advises that patrons

should have options about how much personal information is collected from them and how it may be used [and they] should have the ability to access, modify, and delete personal data in the LMS at any time. […] Example: The LMS offers the ability to save the checkout history. This should be an opt-in feature. If users opt in, they should be able to opt out. They should also be able to have that checkout history destroyed. (para. 3)

The library management system your library uses may not have all these features but it’s important to be aware of these guidelines and the reasons behind them so that you can be an advocate for patron privacy.

When you read through the guidelines, notice the following:

• What are the three key features of effective library privacy policies?
• Which types of patron data are considered to be high-risk and sensitive, and therefore most important for library workers and the circulation software to protect?
• What are the 5 questions that library workers should ask before deciding which personal data to collect from and about library patrons?
• What do the guidelines warn library workers about when they are considering using reports of patrons’ data to analyze their preferences, behaviors, and demographics for the purpose of improving library services?
• What should library managers do to sustain privacy awareness among all of the people who have access to the circulation software in the ILS?

Read the Library Privacy Guidelines for Library Management Systems. If you are reading this book in print, please go online now to find these Guidelines on the ALA website. The URL is in the References.

Library Privacy Guidelines for Public Access Computers and Networks

Like the guidelines about Library Management Systems, the guidelines about privacy on library computers were first approved by the Intellectual Freedom Committee in 2016. They were most recently amended in 2020. The guidelines explain that library workers are just as responsible for putting protections in place for guarding patrons’ privacy when they are using library computers as when they are checking out library books. For example, “The library should provide browsers and plugins that offer privacy protections” (para. 9). Some current examples of these are the Brave Browser, which works a lot like Chrome, but blocks ads and cookies automatically. Libraries could have the Brave Browser set as the default browser on their computers. “In addition, browsers should be configured to clear all data (cache, history, cookies, passwords) upon exit” (para. 9). Further, “the library should use restoration software or other technological means to remove traces of individual use on public access computers and other devices provided by the library” (para. 11). These traces can include any type of document or file, even if it is not something the patron accessed online. Most libraries use a type of software that clears everything in the temporary computer memory each time a user logs out. This can cause users problems if they have failed to save something correctly before exiting the computer, but the importance of privacy outweighs the risk that patrons will lose a file. When you work in libraries, you can help patrons to learn to effectively save their files or use online software that automatically saves their work to their own space in the cloud.

The guidelines also explain why libraries should not use monitoring software on public computers, even though it can be used to help troubleshoot tech issues, since monitoring software allows staff to “record activities or remotely view what a user is doing on a device” (para. 13). Some school and academic libraries see value in using software on classroom computers that allows the instructor to take over control of the students’ screens and to view what students are viewing. If your library is using any monitoring software on the computers that patrons use for any reason, the existence and purpose of the software should be made very clear to patrons and they should be told how library workers will protect the personally identifying information they have access to because of the monitoring.

I have provided just a few highlights of these guidelines here. Read the Library Privacy Guidelines for Public Access Computers and Networks. If you are reading this book in print, please go online now to find these Guidelines on the ALA website. The URL is in the References.

Library Privacy Guidelines for Students in K-12 Schools

Library techs in school libraries face particular challenges when trying to protect students’ privacy. According to the ALA guidelines,

A lack of autonomy [from district administration and outside agreements with vendors] may make it difficult for librarians to implement policies and procedures to protect student privacy in regard to the use of library systems, applications, and collections. In addition, state and federal laws regarding library records, educational records (e.g., the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act – FERPA), and the online activities of minors (e.g., the Child Online Privacy Protection Act – COPPA) have both positive and negative impacts on the privacy rights of students. For example, FERPA establishes explicit rights to privacy for students’ and minors’ educational records but at the same time grants school officials with ‘legitimate educational interest’ and parents access to, and oversight over, student records that weakens these privacy rights. (para. 1)

This means that school LMTs need to work closely with their administrators to implement procedures that protect students’ privacy, such as eliminating students’ check-out records after the items have been returned. Regardless of local and federal regulations that limit students’ privacy rights, LMTs still have a lot of responsibility for carrying out professional values about privacy and for teaching students to value and protect privacy. For some library workers it may be tempting to avoid conflict with supervisors and colleagues by providing any student information they request and by being lax about the library’s privacy-related practices. But it is important to maintain high standards because, “As students and minors mature, it is increasingly important that they are provided with opportunities to exercise their curiosity and develop their intellect free from the chilling effects of surveillance by educators, peers, parents, or commercial interests” (para. 2).

By protecting students’ privacy, LMTs also teach students, to “develop an appreciation for their own privacy and a corresponding respect for the privacy of others” (para. 2) and “about their privacy rights, practices they can use to protect themselves, [and] ethical behavior online” (para. 10). For example, LMTs should teach students that the questions they ask in the library and their use of materials in the library and through the library’s eBooks and databases will be kept confidential and why these protections are so important for their learning and intellectual freedom. And LMTs should make sure “that there is no monitoring by staff or peers of what students are reading, viewing, or researching while in the library” (para. 3). The guidelines do not mention it, but LMTs should also be careful to train volunteers, whether parents or students, about the importance of protecting students’ privacy in the library.

As an LMT, you may also have input into the educational software that is relevant to the library. The ALA guidelines mention California’s Student Online Personal Information Protection Act (SOPIPA), which defines what software companies that provide services for California schools cannot do and what they must do with students’ data:

Operators must not:

Engage in targeted advertising when the targeting is based on any information that has been acquired because of the use of that operator’s site, service or application.

Use information to amass a profile about a K-12 student, except in furtherance of a K-12 school purpose.

Sell a student’s information.

Disclose covered information except in specific, limited circumstances.

Operators must:

Implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices appropriate to the nature of the covered information.

Protect covered information from unauthorized access, destruction, use, modification, or disclosure.

Delete a student’s covered information if requested by the school or district that controls the information. (Future of Privacy Forum, 2016, p. 5)

SOPIPA defines a list of students’ personally identifying information that software companies cannot share and that library workers should also be careful to keep private, which includes:

First and last names

Physical address

Email address

Grades and evaluations

Disciplinary records

Health records

Socioeconomic information

Online multimedia generated by the student (e.g. videos, photos, voice recordings)

Geolocation data (Clark, 2020)

Read the Library Privacy Guidelines for Students in K-12 Schools and the Library Privacy Checklist for Students in K-12 Schools. The Checklist provides a list of actions that LMTs and school administrators can take together. They are listed in order of priority to make the biggest difference in protecting students’ privacy. If you are reading this book in print, please go online now to find these Guidelines on the ALA website. The URL is in the References.

ALA’s Freedom to Read Statement

All of the ALA guidelines about privacy are built upon the original Freedom to Read Statement from 1953 (last amended in 2004). This controversial and prescient statement makes it every library worker’s responsibility to protect privacy as a core professional value and to fight passive as well as direct censorship. Direct censorship includes publicly demanding that specific materials be removed from the library. Passive censorship is “voluntary curtailment of expression,” also called self-censorship, that is motivated by library workers’ desire “to avoid controversy or unwelcome scrutiny by government officials” (para. 3). Although every library has limits to what they will add to the collection that are based on the library’s mission, when library workers are overly cautious about not adding books that fit the mission but may be controversial, they are allowing themselves to be influenced by what the Freedom to Read Statement calls “the shadow of fear cast” by “private groups’ and public authorities” who do not trust people to “make their own decisions about that they read and believe” (para. 1-3).

The Freedom to Read Statement starts with the affirmation that “The freedom to read is essential to our democracy” and “is continuously under attack” (para. 1). Though headlines throughout 2022 highlighted a growing problem of school libraries and school library workers being condemned for the books they have or are erroneously reported to have in their collections, censorship is not new and book challenges are common enough that nearly all libraries have a written policy for what to do if someone lodges a formal complaint about a specific item. Having a policy regarding book challenges, however, does not mean that libraries should be influenced by the tastes and beliefs of even the majority of their patrons, since, “It is wrong that what one can read should be confined to what another thinks proper” (proposition 2). Instead, libraries must make difficult decisions to use their finite budgets to grow their collections in ways that reflect majority as well as historically marginalized viewpoints.

The Freedom to Read Statement specifically takes on the issue of what role school libraries should have in either protecting children from information or teaching children to handle challenging information. The statement says,

Parents and teachers [which includes library media technicians] have a responsibility to prepare the young to meet the diversity of experiences in life to which they will be exposed, as they have a responsibility to help them learn to think critically for themselves” (proposition 4).

But, according to ALA’s statement, parents, teachers, and library workers cannot fulfill these responsibilities to students “simply by preventing them from reading works for which they are not yet prepared” because “values differ, and values cannot be legislated […] without limiting the freedom of others” (proposition 4).

Privacy is necessary in order for people to exercise their freedom to read. The Freedom to Read Statement acknowledges that following its propositions will “mean the dissemination of ideas and manners of expression that are repugnant to many persons” (para. 15) and people with a sense of social responsibility are likely to self-censor what they read if they think anyone else will find out or that the record of what they read years ago will continue to follow them as they change their minds and their life. Librarian and futurist, R. David Lankes (2022), explains the connection between privacy and intellectual freedom this way, “we win the war for freedom of our very knowledge infrastructures by building trust person by person, community by community […] not by looking official and detached, but by looking like our neighbors” and protecting their privacy even more carefully than we protect our own (slide 25). So library workers must do the work of providing and protecting access not “in the comfortable belief that what people read is unimportant” but because “what people read is deeply important [and] ideas can be dangerous” (para. 15).

I have provided just a few examples from the statement, so read the whole Freedom to Read Statement. (Access it online now if you are reading this in print—the URL is in the References.) If you’re like me, some of the Freedom to Read Statement will deeply challenge your beliefs and drive you to think about the tension between two possibly contrasting responsibilities we have as library workers: to educate patrons to critically evaluate information and to provide unstigmatized access to dangerous ideas. When we choose to work in libraries, we willingly take on this challenge.

How Library Techs Protect Patrons’ Privacy

In most libraries, patrons interact with library techs much more than they do with librarians and library administrators. So a lot of the responsibilities for carrying out the procedures that actually protect patrons’ privacy fall on the shoulders of techs. For this textbook, I asked all of the techs I interviewed how they protect patrons’ privacy and I learned a great deal from what they shared. Based on their answers, I found that library techs protect patrons privacy by:

• Practicing cyber defense and teaching patrons to think defensively
• Teaching patrons to be self-sufficient when using the library
• Eliminating patron records as soon as items are checked in
• Not providing any loan data about anyone to anyone
• Practicing discretion when assisting and discussing patrons

Practice Cyber Defense

Account Information and ID Numbers

Since all patron information is stored on networked computers, the basics of keeping their personally identifiable information private is considered cyber defense. In interviews, library techs explained their experiences related to being able to verify patrons’ identity while simultaneously limiting what information is collected about patrons, who accesses patron information, and for what reasons:

Alysa Hernandez, Library Support Specialist III at Cal State San Marcos: When providing reserve textbooks to students,

there’s not that much that we do with accounts or ID numbers and I think we really try to stay away from that. Like giving out any information from or even looking at the accounts to verify information just because […] we don’t want to give out any information. I’ve been pretty strict with just trying not to look at that. So I don’t give away any information to any patron.

Danielle Davis, Lead Library Programming Tech at the Carney Library, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton:

We used to record a lot of personal information [when registering patrons], like their rank, their phone number, family members, where they’re located on base. But we don’t do that any longer within our new system. We’ve slimmed down or trimmed the type of information that we record to ensure that the patron is existing purely as, you know, their name, phone number, email, and that’s all. I would say our patrons in particular—the military active duty members and spouses or partners—they are heavily controlled as it is. They are policed coming onto base, they’re policed going off of base, they’re policed within, wherever they are while circulating on Camp Pendleton. And so the library space is kind of an area where they have a little bit of a reprieve from that.

Elisa Hernandez, Library Associate II at Escondido Public Library:

We don’t share [patrons’] phone numbers. Sometimes, [a] patron doesn’t want to give us their information, because they think we share with companies, but we don’t do that. But the question is, we need some kind of information to reach them for example, to notify them the items they requested are ready, or to tell them that there is a damaged item. Or sometimes, they left items in the library, and their library card is lost, or sometimes, they lost their wallet. If we have information, we can contact them, notify the patron. […] And another thing to help with privacy. They say, ‘I don’t have my library card.’ I say, ‘Okay, can I have your ID?’ They get mad sometimes. Why do you ask me for ID? I’m not applying for a library card. And if they don’t have the ID, I ask many questions. What is your address? And because many people know your address, because I know my friends’ address, I know my friends’ phone numbers so sometimes I ask more questions because of that. And then sometimes they get mad. And I said, ‘You know what? This is for your own protection to avoid somebody using your information.’

LaDonna Hankins-Ramirez, Library Media Tech II at Murrieta Valley Academy:

I just have to make sure the students put in their ID numbers and [although] most of the schools will require them to show their ID, I don’t necessarily require them to show their ID because most of them I know who they are. Also, when you pull up their number or they’re typing their number, they have a picture that’ll come up [on the screen] so you know who they are. So you don’t have to be so strict but the larger high schools are way more strict than I am.

Rachel Schneider, Library Media Tech substitute and school library volunteer in Poway Unified School District:

With having a lot of parent volunteers come in, they are always really eager to be like, ‘Okay, I’ll check books in, I’ll check books out.’ And there’s always a little bit of caution before just letting somebody do it. The LMT always explains that this is everybody’s information and needs to stay private and kind of explains why we do that.” And “working in a school with a bunch of kids, we really try to keep each student’s information private from the other students. So when they’re checking out their books, we just make sure that the screen is not displayed where any other students can see. And mostly that’s it. Older students have a certain checkout area. And then with younger students we do things a little bit differently just to accommodate their size. Like a tall counter and a short counter. But the shorter counter is more visible if you’re a big kid. So, we kind of sort out how that works just so that we can keep their information private from others.

Octavio Hernandez, Library Specialist II at North Central University: One way for the library to protect the student information they have in their records is by

using password management software so that the very private details that I have access to—like students’ phone numbers and address and things of that nature—won’t get leaked or stolen or found out by anybody who shouldn’t have it. And [by using password management software, staff] can have really powerful, strong passwords and not ever have any of our systems be vulnerable to cyber-attacks or fishing and things like that.

Melissa Englehart, Library Media Assistant II at Wildomar Elementary:

I’m really concerned about [privacy]. I even had mentioned to [my colleague in the library] that when we print off the rosters from Infinite Campus—because the phone and address is automatically checked to show up when you print it out—I told her always make sure you uncheck that [in the software] because I don’t want that running around even though we throw it away and it gets shredded. Still, I’m not okay with that. And then of course nobody, no parents are allowed in here. They get stopped at the office and we’d go up and meet them at the office. It didn’t used to be like that, but since COVID it’s been like that. […] So we don’t let any personal information go out at all. And we don’t even need…the only time we need [a student’s] address is when we need to mail a letter to the parents saying, ‘Hey, your kid has owed a book for two months, please pay or give the book back.’ But other than that, we don’t need their information. And no children are allowed to go back behind our desk at any time to access anything. Not that we have kids’ names and addresses printed out or anything. But that was happening at a school in [another area] where one student would distract the librarian while the other one would be going through her book and writing down the information of the children that they wanted to know their address and phone number. And I was shocked. I said, ‘Why are those even printed out? Why would you even have that information printed out?’ There’s no need for that.

Kiana Hankins-Ramirez, Library Media Assistant II at Wildomar Elementary: The main way the library techs protect students’ privacy

is just making sure that there’s nothing, no personal information, that we print out. When I send out letters to the parents stating that they need to pay for a book or anything like that, I just make sure that it’s only their name on there and there’s no ID number or phone numbers, addresses, parents’ information, none of that. I just try to make sure that everything is as empty as possible.

When Using the Library’s Computers

Library techs can also help patrons to protect their own information online.

Danielle Davis, Lead Library Programming Tech at Carney Library on the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton:

On base we discuss a lot about PII, so that would be ‘personally identifiable information’. And it is a huge part of the work that we do at the library. We have signs posted by our computers reminding patrons to sign out of their account and their emails because our public computers are on public WiFi. Even though they are heavily filtered and heavily controlled by our IT department on base, patrons still have to ensure that they log out.

Elisa Hernandez, Library Associate II at Escondido Public Library:

When they use the computers, nothing is saved. As soon as they log out, everything is erased. And also at night, nothing is saved. They told me many years ago everything was saved, but to avoid these kinds of problems, now nothing is saved.

Teach Self-Sufficiency

Elisa Hernandez, a Library Associate II at Escondido Public Library has helped a lot of patrons find what they are looking for in the library during her 20 years of service. Some patrons are clearly embarrassed or at least slightly bashful to ask for what they need. One young teenager looked distraught while her mother asked Elisa to direct them to books about sexuality and gender identity, explaining that her child was looking for them. Interactions like these have made Elisa very good at sensitively helping people navigate the library’s collection. But she also notes that if patrons knew more about how the library is organized or if the library were organized in a more intuitive way, then people would be able to use the library self-sufficiently, avoiding the need to reveal their interests to a library worker if they wanted to keep that to themselves. Library techs can help patrons to understand the layout and call number system of the library so that patrons can use it on their own. Some libraries have posted lists of call number ranges where books on popular sensitive topics are shelved. At one innovative library, they even put these posters in bathroom stalls specifically to ensure that patrons can consult the lists in private (Giles Wantuck, 2019). Promoting self-sufficient browsing along with the additional privacy afforded by self-checkout kiosks allow patrons to keep their reading habits to themselves.

Eliminate Records

Depending on the settings, the circulation module of a library management system can store years of patrons’ check-out history or none of their check-out history. Library techs play a role in ensuring that circulation software deletes circulation data after items are checked in and that patrons, parents, school administrators, and so forth, understand why that procedure is followed so carefully in most libraries.

Elisa Hernandez, Library Associate II at Escondido Public Library:

Another kind of protective privacy is when the patrons check out books, as soon as they return it, it’s erased from their account. We don’t keep track of what they check out unless the item is damaged, or has fines, or there is a problem. That way we can keep the record. But as soon as the problem is solved, it is removed from their account. [When patrons ask for a list of books they have checked out before,] we tell them that with their library card there is a way they can sign in, and they can have a record of everything they check out. That’s something new. They can have a record, but there’s something they need to sign [up for] themselves. We can help them, but they can check which books they check out and keep a record.

During the period over which we did these interviews, the LMTs in the San Marcos Unified School District were in the final stages of officially eliminating circulation data from their library management system, which had been keeping years of records of students’ check-outs. The following quotes explain the reasons and process for making this change to improve students’ privacy protections.

Yvonne Brett, Library Media Tech III at San Marcos High School:

There’s one thing that our group is working on [regarding privacy]. Destiny [the LMS] keeps track of everything you’ve ever checked out. And this is useful as far as textbooks and the computers that we [circulate] because sometimes we need to know the history of ‘Where’s that book been?’ You know? But we’re going to be turning it off for the library books because there’s been some concerns brought up about, ‘What if parents want to know if their student has checked out a book on sex change?’ [sic] or, you know, different things. So, we’re talking about turning that off so that there’s not the history of the library books. So that the kids can read what they want to read. It’s going to happen in the next few months, I believe. Because, what does that really matter? […] I think some kids know that they can log into their own accounts as well if they want to keep track of it. So, that’s a thing that we’re discussing district wide, if that’s going to go away.

Lora Diaz, Library Media Tech III at Mission Hills Hight School: The privacy issues of students’ circulation records is

something that we don’t think about because the parents are the responsible party for anything that gets checked out to a student. So at the end of the day, they’re financially responsible. So we always talk to them. We try talking to the kids too, but, and they can be great, but at other times they’re not the responsible party, so we need to call [the parents]. So we end up calling home a lot. And we say like, ‘Oh, they have a library book out’ and we’ll tell them the name of it, which I don’t always feel comfortable with. But another thing that’s come up and we’re working with the district about doing is there’s a lot of kids out there who are checking books out because they’re discovering themselves. And if they’ve checked books out, we still keep track, our system will automatically keep track of their history. Either the kid’s history of checkouts or the book’s history of checkouts. Who checked it out and all that stuff. So we are moving away from that for a lot of reasons per [the LMTs’] own request. The library techs have asked [district leaders] to do that because at the end of the day, if a parent wants to know what their kid has read at school, if we don’t have that information to give them, then it’s easier to say no because we’re just like, ‘Our system just doesn’t keep track of that.’ Versus, ‘I’m withholding this information about your kids’ account.’ So we decided as a district to move away from that. And then at the district level, our tech department is able to go in and change that setting [in the LMS]. So that’s actually one of the things next we’re going to finalize, making sure that [changing the setting in the LMS] doesn’t affect other things in the system. Making sure that everyone’s on board with it. And also the reasoning why and all that stuff. So we do strongly believe in patron privacy, especially when it comes to anything that they read in the library. And we’re only [making this change to records for] library books. We need to know who’s checked out Chromebooks and textbooks. And it’s not as big of a deal because library books are where things get a little different. So we’re moving and I’m pleased to see us moving towards having more patron privacy in that regard. Where we just don’t keep track of stuff like that. Which kind of reminds me of Sierra, the ILS [at the public library] will do that too, just not keep track. There isn’t even a tab to change the setting in Sierra, which I actually thought was really cool. So yeah, we are concerned and we are making changes to make sure the privacy of the student is there for us so that we don’t end up divulging something. There’s a lot going on in the elementary schools about what’s appropriate and what isn’t in the library and they’re freaking out. And I’m just like, ‘Listen, if you ever find a book in your collection that doesn’t belong in an elementary school library, don’t just ban it. Maybe send it to the middle school or if it’s not appropriate there, send it to me [at the high school] and we’ll go through those stages. But [eliminating circulation records from the LMS is] one of the big things we’re talking about.

Shannon Rapo, Library Media Tech I at La Costa Meadows Elementary:

I can’t totally remember if we learned this in our [LIT] program [at Palomar], but I think in schools, parents have access to all student records. We have to give [parents] access to all student records. Our school district uses [LMS] software that goes all the way K through 12. [So,] privacy at the elementary level isn’t as much [of a concern] as it is maybe for students in middle and high school who might be getting into more content that might be objectionable to parents. So that’s where the privacy issues show up. The only time I access [circulation] history is, say, a student is checking out a book and they open it up and, like today, there was a book a student was checking out and he opened it up and it was all highlighted. I was like, ‘Oh, who had that book last?’ I want to go talk to that student and say, ‘Hey, tell me about this.’ But it actually looks like our [circulation] history already has been shut off. And so I could not see the history of where this book had been. Well, the librarians all talked about it and said, ‘Hey, we would much rather protect privacy for these students than worry about a $20 fine to replace a book.’ So that’s where privacy issues show up. But otherwise, I don’t really have content at this level that anyone is maybe going to think inappropriate.

Do Not Provide Any Loan Data

Some people in positions of authority with explanations that make a lot of logical or emotional sense will come to ask for patron information. As a library tech you will never have to make the choice about whether or not to provide the information. If a request for information is legitimate, which generally will mean that there has been a subpoena or warrant signed by a court of law, then the library manager or school administrator will provide it.

Elisa Hernandez, Library Associate II at the Escondido Public Library:

We don’t give any information to anyone, not even to the police. If they really need something, [there is] information they have to show us. Something for the court–a subpoena. And only the head of the library [takes care of it], not us [the library associates]. We don’t even give any information to the moms. Because sometimes, the mom wants to know what her teenager is doing. We don’t give any information. We also protect kids’ privacy. Sometimes, [the parents] get upset. But we told them to communicate with the kids. Because [the parents] sign [the library card application] for the kids, they think they can check on the kids. But no, we don’t give any information.

Christina Lorenzo, Library Assistant in Bilingual Services at a public library:

Patron privacy is very big. You can’t even talk to a police officer asking you for details about a patron. If you are not a supervisor and if you don’t have the official judge paperwork, like a warrant, to say that you can release that information

then the library will not provide any information. There are also

little things that people don’t really think about. For example, one of them is that the parents can’t come in and say, ‘Hey, what books does my kid have checked out?’ It’s like, well, it’s their parents, why wouldn’t they need to know? Or what if they just want to know what books they need to look out for, but you can’t [tell them]. So there are a lot of things that come up that are things that you wouldn’t really think about that you have to be mindful of

to follow library policies protecting patrons’ privacy.

Melissa Englehart, Library Media Assistant II, Wildomar Elementary:

My philosophy is, if you don’t want your child checking out that type of book, then let them know. You can even let me know, ‘I don’t want my child checking out books with dragons.’ Okay, no problem. You know, if your child comes up, well I’m going to say, ‘Your mom or dad specifically requested that you not bring home this type of book. So maybe go find something else.’ You know? But I’ve never had a parent request the history of their child and what they’ve checked out before ever. Like that, that’s never seemed to be a concern.

LaDonna Hankins-Ramirez, Library Media Tech II at Murrieta Valley Academy: School libraries follow different regulations than public libraries, so library media techs will provide information about what students currently have checked out

only if it’s for parents. But for other students, no. I won’t give another student a student’s information regardless of what it’s for. Normally, when a parent is asking it’s because they’re trying to return it. So, I will give them the information about what books they have checked out in order to get them returned.

Rachel Schneider, Library Media Technician substitute and school library volunteer in the Poway Unified School District:

Sometimes [parent volunteers] want to look at their own kids’ [circulation records]. I usually just dodge that. I just send them to the LMT to handle that. Because I’m like, ‘I don’t want to… I’m not going to look up some other kids’ information. It’s just library books and they’re little, but at the same time, I think that privacy has to start and has to be respected even when they’re so little. The LMT really doesn’t explain why [students’ circulation records are not shared]. She just says, ‘This is what we do. We just try to keep it private.’ And [she] doesn’t really go into a lot of detail and usually the parents just go with it.

It can be hard to imagine all of the seemingly good reasons that someone might come to ask you for patrons’ circulation data or other information about how they use the library. As you can see from the examples that library techs shared in interviews, different library workers take different approaches. Your own approach to protecting patrons’ privacy will be shaped by

• your values and life-experiences
• the policies and culture of the library where you work
• the laws that apply to the location and type of library where you work
• the professional guidelines that remind us of the standards that library workers have committed to uphold.

How to balance patrons’ privacy with other library goals is a complex question. To prepare yourself to recognize and avoid tempting arguments for violating patrons’ privacy, read through these privacy and confidentiality scenarios created by librarians at Georgia Tech to train library workers (Snowman, 2013). If you are reading this book in print, go online to access this training. The URL is in the References.

Practice Discretion

Regardless of how carefully personally identifiable information is protected and how thoroughly patron circulation data is deleted, library techs still run the risk of violating patrons’ privacy by crossing personal boundaries. Asking prying questions, commenting on patrons’ circumstances, revealing patrons’ book selections to others, or telling detailed stories about patrons to colleagues or friends can all result in intrusions into patrons’ privacy. A strong professional demeanor when working with the public will allow you to build connections with patrons without crossing the line.

Shannon Rapo, Library Media Tech I at La Costa Meadows Elementary:

When [students] come to class [in the library], they sit down and I’ll do a read-aloud with them. And then I’ve run a report that says who has what checked out and they can get a max of two books. And so it’s helpful for me to go down and say, ‘Okay Johnny, you have two books checked out, Sarah, you have one.’ Because, inevitably, they’ll ask me, ‘How many books do I check out? How many can I get?’ So, I just read through how many you have and if any of them I’ve noted are about four weeks overdue, I’ll say, ‘Hey, come talk to me.’ Sometimes they’ll say, ‘Oh, what books do I have checked out?’ And I’ll say, ‘Come talk to me.’ Because I just feel like that’s a little bit of the privacy of like, ‘Johnny, you have Dogman and Cat Kid.’ I don’t want other kids to be like, ‘You have what?’ That, to me, is private. So, I don’t want to announce that in front of everyone. They can come talk to me and they can look at my report and see what they have checked out. Now if they’re going to be super nosy and look at what everybody else…they don’t, I haven’t really seen that as a problem. When I do have students checking in books from time to time, I thought, ‘Oh, that means they’re seeing what students are checking in or if it shows that the book is overdue or whatever.’ But I’ve sort of observed they’re more interested in the scanning and the beeping and they’re not really paying attention to who has what book out. So, from a student to student privacy standpoint, I haven’t seen any issues with that.

Christine Lorenzo, Library Assistant in the Bilingual Services Department at a public library: The need for discretion is always important, but exactly what you are being discreet about

depends on what division you’re working in. For example, [in the] literacy [division], they’re very big on you not sharing people’s names who are participating in the program. They don’t have records of certain things because they don’t want people to judge. And it’s not because they’re doing anything top secret. I think it just has to do with [the fact that] a lot of our patrons are shy that they have to come in and embarrassed because they have to come in and receive help. So, that’s another thing, I think, because we are so close to our patrons and among the patrons, the families are close, too. I think we also have to be careful about being like, ‘Oh, so and so was just here for blah, blah, blah.’ Things like that. So that does come up a lot.

LaDonna Hankins-Ramirez, Library Media Tech II at Murrieta Valley Academy: Some students may be sensitive about their reading level, so

if there’s a Lexile [score for the book,] put that in[side the front cover of the book] versus having it on the outside. Some people like putting it on the outside. I don’t put it on the outside because sometimes students don’t want other people to know what level they’re reading at. So that’s a little bit of privacy for them.

Octavio Hernandez, Library Specialist II at North Central University:

I protect patron privacy by trying my best not to vent about them and having compassion and sympathy for whatever might be going on in their life. So not making them the subject of vents or jokes [even when my colleagues are doing that].

Conclusion

Circulation is the heart of the library’s services. It secures the library’s collection just enough so that the library can continue to lend out its materials without being emptied. It provides the most confidential access to information that most people will ever get. And it is the service that brings patrons into contact with library workers most regularly. Working the Circulation Desk should bring all library workers pride. It is an honor to get to connect people with information that satisfies their needs and could change their life.

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