A	Set	of	Consensus	Principles	

to	Address	Patron	Privacy	Issues



The	NISO	Privacy	Principles
Todd A. Carpenter
@TAC_NISO
Executive Director, NISO
ALA Midwinter Conference
January 9, 2016
➢ Non-profit	industry	trade	association	

accredited	by	the	American	National	Standards	Institute	
➢ Mission	of	developing	and	maintaining	technical	standards	
related	to	information,	documentation,	discovery	and	
distribution	of	published	materials	and	media	
➢ Volunteer	driven	organization:	200+	members	and	

400+	contributors	spread	out	across	the	world	
➢ Responsible	for	standards	like	ISSN,	DOI,	Dublin	Core	
metadata,	DAISY	digital	talking	books,	OpenURL,	MARC	
records,	and	ISBN
About
“III.	We	protect	each	library	user's	right	
to	privacy	and	confidentiality	with	
respect	to	information	sought	or	
received	and	resources	consulted,	
borrowed,	acquired	or	transmitted.”	
Code	of	Ethics	of	the	American	Library	
Association
But…
Publishers,	content	providers	and	
systems	vendors	are	not	libraries,	
nor	are	they	staffed	by	librarians.



	They	serve	library	patrons,	but	they	
also	serve	other	communities	in	
other	ways.
We	often	envision	this	as	a	library
Leeds	Library	by	Michael	D	Beckwith	on	Flickr
Libraries	more	often	look	like	this
Servers,	switches,	Chris,	and	such	on	Flickr
Most	Library/Information	Services	

Take	Place	in	the	Cloud
Not all privacy issues
are hacks

Not all breaches are
malicious

Not all data sharing is
inappropriate
(2005)
(2005)
(2005)
Weigh	these	risks	against	the	
real	benefits	

that	can	be	derived,	

or	service	improvements	
that	are	possible,	

through	usage	analysis
What	can	we	do	about	this?
Can	libraries	and	service	providers	
develop	valuable	services	that	are	
based	on	user	activity	data,	or	
improve	existing	services	using	
activity	data,	in	a	way	that	
simultaneously	

protects	privacy?
Can	we	build	a	framework	to	
protect	patron	privacy	

that	is	based	on	consensus	

that	simultaneously	recognizes	
the	nuances	with	this	issue?
NISO	Initiative	on	Privacy	
of	Patron	Data	

in	Information	Systems
NISO	initiative	generously	funded	by:
Goal:	Establish	a	consensus	
framework	of	principles	that	
proscribe	how	information	systems	
should	respect	the	privacy	of	
patron	data
Virtual	Discussions
• Patron	privacy	in	library	systems	
– Thursday,	May	7,	10am-1pm	ET	
• Patron	privacy	in	vendor	systems	
– Thursday,	May	21,	10am-1pm	ET	
• Patron	privacy	in	publisher	systems	
– Friday,	May	22,	9am-12pm	ET	
• Legal	frameworks	for	patron	privacy	
– Friday,	June	19,	1-4pm	ET
San	Francisco,	CA	on	June	29-30
NISO	Privacy	Principles
Preamble
1.	Shared	Privacy	
Responsibilities
2.	Transparency	and	Facilitating	
Privacy	Awareness
3.	Security
4.	Data	Collection	and	Use
5	.	Anonymization
6	.	Options	and	Informed	
Consent
7	.	Sharing	Data	with	Others
8	.	Notification	of	Privacy	
Policies	and	Practices
9	.	Supporting	Anonymous	
Use
10.	Access	to	One’s	Own	
User	Data
11.	Continuous	
Improvement
12.	Accountability
Glossary
What	are	the	next	steps?
A	new	NISO	Project	in	2016:	
Privacy	and	Research	Data
Development of a framework that explains the precautions that
data creators, repositories, aggregators and scientists should
use in creating, using, preserving, and providing access to
research data.
Definitions of key vectors where privacy issues are evident in
the ecosystem of data sharing and reuse.
Outline use cases where the privacy principles apply.
Identify key areas of variance in privacy laws or regulations at
national and international levels
Define of a set of technical metadata that can be used to
describe privacy-related information contained within a data
set, parameters for use, and description of where it should be
applied.
Advance adoption through an outreach & communications
Expected Project Outcomes
1)   Improving the understanding of the privacy issues that
relate specifically to research data
2)   Support a worldwide dialogue about privacy issues
surrounding the sharing, combination, and reuse of
research data.
3)   Reduce the risk of an unintentional release of
personally identifiable information through the sharing or
reuse of research data.
4)   Reduce the potential risk to scientific discovery that
might be caused by the unintentional but significant
exposure of personal data.
Additional ancillary benefits
A free one-day forum
In-person and virtual participation will be available
In Denver, CO during International Data Week
September 11-17, 2016
More details will be released later this spring
Public Forum on Privacy and Research Data
This project is jointly funded by
generous grants from:
More	information:

	

www.niso.org/topics/tl/patron_privacy/	
	bit.ly/niso_patron_privacy		
www.niso.org/topics/tl/patron_privacy/
Thank	you!



Todd	A.	Carpenter

Executive	Director

National	Information	Standards	Organization	(NISO)



	@TAC_NISO

tcarpenter@niso.org

www.niso.org


ALA Midwinter NISO Privacy Principles