Protection of privacy and New Zealand libraries: Is digital just different?

Abstract

With the development and uptake of digital technologies, threats to privacy change rapidly. This research measures the level of concern for privacy among New Zealand librarians in different contexts, as well as the level of confidence in libraries’ current practices with regard to mitigating privacy issues surrounding digital services. Likert scale data was collected through an online survey which received 135 completed responses, and statistical analysis carried out to determine if there were differences between a) concern for privacy in offline contexts, b) concern for privacy in digital services and c) confidence in libraries' current privacy protection practices. Support was found for the hypotheses that concern for privacy was lower in the context of digital services than in offline contexts, and that in the context of digital services confidence in practices was lower than the level of concern. The findings suggest a need for changes to privacy protection practices in New Zealand libraries.