Information and digital literacy in education via the digital path

If you want to get my goat, or, I daresay, the goat of any librarian, make a gratuitous reference to shushing. The finger held to the lips, the aggressive whisper, the frown at a pin’s drop. We don’t do these things, but it’s a stereotype that is endlessly used in article titles and commercials, and it’s annoying.

Still, something struck me as I was recently mulling over what it is that libraries offer in our frazzled, commercialized, surveillant society. I’ve made the claim before that library values, if not actual library practices, could be beneficially applied to the digital platforms we use every day. Caring about privacy, intellectual freedom, the public good and free access to information for all would go a long way toward making our tech corporations more just and socially responsible. We may be making a little progress on that front. 

Michael Zimmer and Bonnie Tijerina
INTRODUCTION
The UW-Milwaukee Center for Information Policy Research, in partnership with Data & Society, along with the American
Library Association’s Offi ce of Intellectual Freedom and the New York Public Library, was awarded a National Leadership
Grants for Libraries award from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) for the project “Library Values &
Privacy in our National Digital Strategies: Field guides, Convenings, and Conversations.” A series of gatherings were
held throughout 2017-2018 that brought together library practitioners, privacy advocates, and technology experts to
discuss and debate a national roadmap for a digital privacy strategy for libraries. The culminating event -- the Library
Values and Privacy Summit -- was held in New York City bringing together privacy experts from within and outside
libraries and sparked discussions on key privacy-related issues and possible paths forward.Click here to edit the content