ADOLESCENT PRIVACY PROTECTION

Adolescent Privacy Protection An Information Ethics Case Study Kelsey Edwards, Elise Forte, Sarah Hartshorn, and Ryan Windle Emporia State University

ADOLESCENT PRIVACY PROTECTION Abstract The purpose of this case study is to explore privacy rights as protected by the library and to

examine a specific scenario in which principled ethical consideration will be necessary to reach a conclusion that adequately represents our obligations as information professionals. While the privacy rights of adult library patrons have been well-established and well-protected, a level of ambiguity exists when one turns their attention to children, particularly adolescents, whose nascent senses of self may develop in manners starkly opposed to the wishes or values of their parents or guardians.

ADOLESCENT PRIVACY PROTECTION Background

The specific privacy rights of library patrons have been framed by regulations laid out by the ALA in its User Code of Ethics. Section III states, We protect each library users right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted (Rubin, p. 428). Juveniles exist, however, in a nebulous zone in which the ALAs explicit expression of user rights is qualified or even contravened by legal regulations laid out by individual states with specific application to minors. According to Richard Rubin, almost all states now have harmful to juvenile statutes that create obscenity standards for youth that are easier to meet than those for adults. The librarian is confronted with peoples natural concerns that materials might negatively affect children and adolescents, but with the real possibility that an irate citizen or public official might employ legal means to restrict or eliminate materials (Rubin, p. 384). The librarian must wade these waters with caution. A brief examination of Boulder Public Librarys account policies indicates that any child over the age of twelve is eligible for a personal library account, but parents or guardians may be held responsible for fines accrued on those accounts until the child is eighteen years old, implying, perhaps, that the disclosure of checkout history may be provided to parents seeking to return delinquent materials. Other libraries in the state require parental permission before a child can open an account and provide parental access to checkout histories until the child is sixteen years old. Though the Library Bill of Rights reaffirms that protecting the privacy rights of patrons is an ethical obligation, (Rubin, p. 391) navigating privacy rights problems arising in cases involving adolescents in possession of personal library accounts requires particular ethical deliberation on the part of information professionals.

ADOLESCENT PRIVACY PROTECTION Case Study

On a summer morning, while her thirteen year old son, Tom, plays basketball at a nearby park, Jill enters his room. Like those of most boys his age, the bedroom is messy and redolent of odors not quite identifiable (Jill would rather not try), but slightly nauseating nonetheless. As Jill bends to scoop an armful of clothes from the floor, she detects the bright yellow corner of a book tucked underneath the bed. She picks up the book, Naked Lunch the cover says, and unfamiliar with the author and the content, is mortified by what she finds inside. The content is graphic, and the heavy concentrations of violence, homosexuality, and drug use therein are certainly unacceptable for the mind of a thirteen year old boy. She is worried for her son, that kind young Tom of such an impressionable age she tells herself, and would like immediately to broach the subject with him, but, she reminds herself, perhaps the reading is isolated or perhaps his reading habits indicate the need for a conversation whose scope spans beyond a simple reprimand and an assertion of the items age-impropriety and into realms regarding Toms sexual identity. Jill, preferring additional information before taking action, removes the book from the room and completes her cleaning, not, however, without casting a few surreptitious glances into drawers and corners she might have otherwise left unmolested. She finds nothing additional. A few days later, she appears at the local library and approaches the circulation desk. I found this in my sons bedroom, she says, smashing the book to the counter with surprising vehemence, and I find it entirely inappropriate for someone his age. Id like to know what else my son has recently checked.

ADOLESCENT PRIVACY PROTECTION Thats not something I can do, says the librarian. The account holders information has to remain private. As his mother I have every right to know what it is he reads. How am I to parent properly if I dont have knowledge of whats entering his head? Her eyes begin to fill with tears. Im worried about my son, and, as hes a minor, I have a legal right to know what hes been checking out on his account. If you refuse to turn over those records be prepared for legal ramifications. Aware of state regulations regarding juveniles, the librarian begins to waver in her initially steadfast refusal. To worsen matters, as she begins a closer inspection of Toms account, she discovers the presence of several additional overdue materialsmost by the same writerof which Jill obviously has no knowledge. A mother herself, the librarian sympathizes with Jills position and wonders if she would voluntarily allow her own child access to such materials during early adolescent development. The content is questionable, and providing information regarding account history to Jill may enable her to have constructive conversations with her son concerning sexuality and drug use. And how does she manage those fines without revealing the names of the absent titles? And what sorts of consequences might her actions ultimately have for the relationship between Jill and her son? She stares at the screen awash in conflicting emotions and trying hard to remember how she handled those ethics case studies in one of her early MLS courses. Discussion

-Identify the primary ethical issue raised by this case as described by Severson in The Principles of Information Ethics. Are there any other ethical issues functioning on the periphery?

ADOLESCENT PRIVACY PROTECTION -Rubin cautions libraries and librarians to avoid actions that might harm others but also to be wary of those actions which might harm the institution (Rubin, 419). Are the threats of legal recourse bandied by Jill enough to warrant the librarians obeisance? Who is the librarian ultimately most obligated to protect, Tom or the institution? -Under the current circumstances can access to the account be allowed? If not, how can the librarian prevent a colleague, in her absence, from sharing such information if Jill returns at a later date citing, this time, only the need to determine which titles are overdo? -If the librarian reveals Toms lending record, does she violate information ethics principles or act in accordance with them? Or does the case exist in a liminal zone?

ADOLESCENT PRIVACY PROTECTION References

Boulder Public Library. (2010). Library card information. Retrieved from http://boulderlibrary.o rg/card/index.html

Rubin, R.E. (2010). Foundations of library and information science. New York, New York: Neal-Schuman Publisher, Inc.

Severson, R.J. (1997). The principles of information ethics. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc.