| Abstract: | ABSTRACT No one can predict what document delivery will look like in the future, but librarians must guard patron confidentiality even in an electronic environment. This time it isn't an easily solved problem like finding another way of recording circulation than handwriting patron names onto circulation cards, it is instead the tracking of personal information attached to electronic text supplied by publishers that is a potential violator of patron privacy. Unmonitored in their efforts to protect their intellectual property without considering the rights of their customers, publishers could pose a threat to their customers' privacy, thus limiting their legal right of free access to information. Although encryption technology would appear to provide an answer to the confidentiality problem, it is not a panacea and that must be considered as the National Information Infrastructure is developed. Librarians need to stay alert to the developments in electronic publishing to be sure their concerns for patron privacy continue to be heard. |
