> True. But I would hope that most systems destroy the link between book and the borrowers > identity once the book has been returned.
Our system does this. However, then the patron cannot view his or her
history, nor can the system intelligently guess what types of
resources might help a patron. We got constant requests for Amazon or
Netflix like features that depend on this sort of info.
Meanwhile, the system that I used to run for the Talking Books program
keeps detailed information about patrons in terms of what they do and
don't like. It also knows everything people have checked out and it
sends them other things that they haven't read according to their
preferences (naturally, they can order anything they want as well).
This service has been using profiles and statistics to provide
customized services since the 80's, and it is extremely popular with
patrons. Circulation is much higher than the library catalog despite
the fact that the customer base is literally about a tenth the size.
It is only because this data is retained that we could provide this
great service.
Likewise, ILL systems such as ILLiad retain borrowing history. When I
used to manage one of those machines, we got a lot of positive
feedback about being able to provide past history. I never heard a
negative comment about keeping this data from patrons. It bothered
some librarians, but we had to retain this info for accounting
purposes -- the idea of sending a bill containing over $700K worth of
untraceable requests to a single agency makes me smile....
The good or evil in a tool comes from how it is used, not in what we
imagine malicious individuals might do with it. Given that we are
information professionals, the idea of ignoring or destroying
information that we can use to help people simply because it could be
abused strikes me a disservice. If I am alone in this view, we may as
well file all the sharp edges and points from knives to keep people
from stabbing each other.
We need to be responsible about how we handle data, and if we betray
peoples' trust, we should be held accountable.
Received on Fri Jan 25 2008 - 18:17:14 EST