To help your director prepare the new policy, a group of you will examine privacy.  What privacy issues affect library patrons? What laws govern these issues?  What is the impact of these laws on the traditional role of libraries?  Is it clear how post-September 11 legislation will affect libraries and their patrons?  What should the library’s policy be with regard to patron privacy?

To help you prepare a thorough recommendation, you’ll consider patron privacy issues from four different points of view, with each group member assuming one of four Roles.  After you’ve done that, you will get back together as a group to draft a memo to your director.  Along the way, there will be an opportunity for you to seek input from real librarians in “library-land” on the recommendations you are considering.

The object of this activity is to provide you and your teammates with an opportunity to consider one of the many complicated questions that librarians face all the time, and to formulate a balanced, well thought out response to it.

Ready?  Then it’s time to move on to the Background section.  If at any time you wonder how your team is doing, check the Evaluation page for guidelines.