Why Is Confidentiality Crucial to Freedom of Inquiry?
Inquiries about patron reading habits raise serious questions for librarians and patrons. For example, are you what you read? Would you want others to base decisions affecting your life on their opinion of the books you read, the music you listen to, the information you access over the Internet or other electronic networks or database services, or the films you view? How would library use change if patrons thought their reading records and other information about their lives would be open for scrutiny? How widely would people read knowing their choices might prejudice others against them? If libraries are to survive as centers for the free and uninhibited access to information so necessary to a democratic society, librarians must vigilantly guard their patrons’ privacy and freedom of inquiry. To support librarians in their role as defenders of the right to read, in 1971 the IFC proposed, and the ALA Council adopted, the “Policy on Confidentiality of Library Records” (revised in 1975).
