The article linked below was published by The Journal of Academic Librarianship.

Title

Data Privacy Literacy and Library Privacy Awareness and Concern Among Academic Library Employees

Authors

Bryan Anderson
University of North Texas

Brady D. Lund
University of North Texas

Yara Mohammed
University of North Texas

Zafar Imam Khan
Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Mangalayatan University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India

Source

The Journal of Academic Librarianship
Volume 52, Issue 5, September 2026

DOI: 10.1016/j.acalib.2026.103310

Abstract

Privacy threats pose a tremendous risk for academic library professionals, as ever-evolving emerging technologies challenge complex confidentiality commitments. However, few studies have examined whether privacy competencies align with the demands of the modern academic library environment. This study investigates the relationships among personal data privacy literacy (PDPL), self-reported privacy knowledge, and library privacy awareness among 153 library employees using an electronic survey. The findings suggest that these three constructs are empirically related but conceptually distinct. Self-reported privacy knowledge correlates strongly with library privacy awareness but shows no significant relationship with empirically measured PDPL, suggesting that library professionals may systematically overestimate their privacy competence. MLIS education is associated with higher library privacy awareness but not with higher PDPL, indicating a gap between professional socialization and technical data literacy. The most frequently reported privacy concerns centered on external tracking of patron interactions and limited patron data privacy literacy, reflecting structural vulnerabilities created by vendor-managed digital platforms. These findings provide important insights for the design of library education and professional development as well as the institutional governance of patron data.

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