Linking in any externally hosted information, whether it is cover art, reviews, or availability at other institutions, runs the (high probability) risk that the institution or organization hosting the information is tracking your users whenever they hit that page, and retaining information about them. If this is an average user (perpetually logged into Facebook, Google, Amazon, etc.), then each one of those external data sources on your page means that those sites know what library searches your users are doing, by name. For example, if you have Amazon cover art in the catalog, and I am hitting the catalog with the browser I also use to shop at Amazon, then Amazon now knows what books I am searching for in the library.
It's the responsibility of the library to make sure that whatever contract is signed with the external data source guarantees the same level of privacy for OPAC users that the library itself guarantees.
-Deborah
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Deborah Kaplan
Digital Resources Archivist
Digital Collections and Archives
Tufts University
Received on Fri May 25 2012 - 13:47:46 EDT