Security and Privacy in Digital Libraries:

Abstract

Technological advances have led to a proliferation of digital libraries over the past decade or so. These offer valuable opportunities for convenient access to information and data, regardless of an individual's location. For librarians though, the transition from physical to digital library collections brings many new challenges, not least in the areas of security and privacy. The purpose of this article is to examine the nature of these challenges and the opportunities available for overcoming them, so that libraries can continue to fulfill their important role of providing accurate, secure and timely information to users, while protecting their privacy and the confidentiality of their personal information. The article addresses in particular the following issues: protecting the information infrastructure; identification and authentication in security and privacy; standards and policies; access and control of digital information; ethical decision-making in design, implementation and evaluation of digital libraries; and privacy, anonymity and identity. The article concludes with consideration of the future prospects for security and privacy in digital libraries.