I first must start this blog with a personal statement. It is hard to believe this class will be over in 2 weeks. This class has opened my eyes to many facets of social networking I have learned a great deal, and this has been a wonderful group of people to work with in the cyberworld. Thanks for everything.
Now onto our topic for this week, ethical and information privacy issues. This topic could not have come at a better time for me. I am finishing up my paper on privacy issues dealing with social networking and this put it all together. There is a great deal of information published about privacy, and with the implementation of Web 2.0 the issue of privacy has come to the fore front for the librarian. As most know the fastest growing SNS is Facebook and of course there are privacy concerns. More and more libraries are using this as an "outreach" to their patrons. However, this does bring up ethical, privacy and confidentially concerns. Having just a professional Facebook page would alleviate many of the privacy concerns. However if not, then the library has an ethical obligation to be aware of how to regulate interactions on the site. The use of privacy settings and certain controls will also help the privacy issue.
It is hard to balance a facebook page for the library and also to keep the key issues of privacy at hand. One key point that came up in the literature I reviewed for my paper was the need for "EDUCATION". It is crucial for librarians to educate the library patrons on a continually basis. Information Literacy is a core value and necessity for librarians in the 21st century.
The role of the librarian is changing rapidly especially with new advancements in technology and the changing world of social networking. Librarians must make informed decisions to guarantee they uphold the mission, goals of the library and always keep the needs of the library patron first.
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