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Should Libraries be recommending LibraryElf?

I’ve submitted this to this week’s episode of Uncontrolled Vocabulary so I don’t want to talk about it much here other than to solicit your opinions.

I use LibraryElf. I love Library Elf. It is what makes sure that I return my books on time and I pick up my holds quickly. (Especially when I was back in Denver and regularly checked items out of five or six different area libraries.) I’ve told many a librarian about it and think I’ve gotten a few to sign up as a result. However, I’ve always warned that using this service means giving the folks at LibraryElf full access to your account. I have decided to accept the privacy implications in exchange for the convenience. Others need to make that decision for themselves.

This morning I went to the Web site of the Seward Public Memorial Library in Seward, NE and saw this smack dab in the middle of their home page:

Seward Public Library recommends LibraryElf

They’re recommending LibraryElf. Clicking on the link gets you to a page which gives a basic explanation of how the service works and encourages people to sign up.

Here are my questions:

  1. Should the library explain the potential privacy implications of using such a service? And if so, to what extent?
  2. Should the library be specifically promoting a third-party service such as this with which they have not official relationship?
  3. If a patron’s privacy is breached due to the use of this service is the library liable?

Get your comments in soon and I’ll try to include them in the UnVocab discussion.

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Published by Michael Sauers

Michael Sauers is the Director of Logan Library in Logan, UT. Prior to this he was one of the founding staff and Technology Manager for Do Space in Omaha, NE. After earning his MLS in 1995 from the University at Albany's School of Information Science and Policy Michael spent his first 20 years as a librarian training other librarians in technology along with time as a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, a technology consultant, and a bookseller. He has written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines and has published 14 books ranging from library technology, blogging, Web design, and an index to a popular horror magazine. In his spare time, he blogs at TravelinLibrarian.info, runs The Collector's Guide to Dean Koontz website at CollectingKoontz.com, takes many, many photos, and typically reads more than 100 books a year. Unless otherwise stated, all opinions are my own and are not to be considered those of the City of Logan, UT.

2 Replies to “Should Libraries be recommending LibraryElf?”

  1. There is nothing wrong with promoting a service that compliments library services. You just have to be clear that it is third party and not run by the library. I place Flickr, Library Elf, and Twitter on my library’s homepage at cglibrary.org. I don’t promote it on the page, but in emails, library news, and the local paper. There I do state that it is a third party app.

  2. I know of at least 2 MCLS libraries that have the link to ELF on their front page (Arcadia and Burbank). Neither one really has much to say about the service other than a brief explanation of what it does.

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