What privacy rights do library employees enjoy in the workplace?
Employers have a legitimate interest in ensuring efficiency and productivity. Library management has an obvious further interest in ensuring that employee practices do not adversely effect user service or infringe on user rights, including user rights of privacy and confidentiality. But library employers who use electronic or video surveillance or engage in monitoring of computer, e-mail, or telephone use must carefully evaluate these practices in light of both legal requirements and the profession’s ethical commitment to upholding rights of privacy and confidentiality. • Legal issues: Few laws regulate employee monitoring in the private sector, although federal, state, and local government employees benefit from some degree of legal protection. However, some state public record and record retention laws may impact the degree to which employee personally identifiable information (PII) is kept confidential. Employee PII not covered by law or regulation must be kept confidential. Further
