To what extent is privacy legislation reflected in the university libraries' privacy policies in New Zealand?

Abstract

University libraries are built on the concept of freedom for users to use the library and to access information and are also places where users' activities are strictly kept confidential and private as a legislative requirement. The main objectives of the study are to find out the legal framework of privacy which governs the New Zealand university libraries' operations; to explore the state of the New Zealand university libraries' policies in terms of the protection of their users' privacy, to seek and identify primary concerns of the privacy policies of New Zealand university libraries Content analysis was used as a research technique to analyse the wording of privacy policies of the eight university libraries of New Zealand which are available on their websites. The twelve IPPs of the Privacy Act 1993 can be used as primary cores of a privacy policy and privacy protection procedures of a university library. At present, the eight university libraries of New Zealand do not have their own privacy policies/ procedures. They are following overall privacy policies/ statements of their universities. The university privacy policies to some extent follow with the main principles of the Privacy Act 1993, however, they have not reflected clearly and sufficiently the privacy principles of the Privacy Act 1993. The existing university privacy policies are not consistently comprehensive across the libraries' services and therefore have not been sufficient to prevent the potential privacy risks of the libraries. The privacy policy of university libraries should adhere strictly with the twelve IPPs of the Privacy Act 1993 and professional ethical principles, including: display privacy statement prominently, set up procedures to protect library users' privacy, adopt the relevant legislation and professional library organization Code of Ethics, appoint a privacy compliance officer, develop training privacy program for the library staff and users and conduct privacy audit.