OLA SuperConference 2017 - When Things Get Personal: Privacy and Access in Online Community History

When Things Get Personal: Privacy and Access in Online

Community History

OLA Superconference 2017

Digitizing and making local history collections available online brings to light personal information that was never intended to be shared and

distributed so broadly.

1:What collections are publicly accessible online?

Federated Women’s Institute of Ontario Virtual Archives

Federated Women’s Institute of Ontario

Virtual Archives

● Launched March 31, 2016● Thanks to Government of Canada’s Documentary

Heritage Communities Program● Just the beginning● Original documents are spread across Ontario● Originals remain within their communities, as intended● Researchers can access them electronically in one place

Federated Women’s Institute of Ontario

Tweedsmuir Community History Collections● Documents the history of a community● Numerous awards for preserving local history● Officially started in 1947 - named after Lord Tweedsmuir● Estimate 1,300 collections across Ontario● From a simple scrapbook to an elaborate series of

volumes● Many created before there were privacy concerns● Most still under copyright as closed < 50 years ago

Federated Women’s Institute of Ontario

Other Items Accessible Online● Home & Country Newsletters

○ Complete series, from 1933 to present, fully searchable

● Minutes and Record Books○ Includes the minutes of the first WI branch in the world

● Other - Various other scrapbooks or published books on WI History ● NEW - Community halls, buildings, and monuments

○ Using user contribution facility for a WI 120 project○ Submit photos and information on the structures created by the WI in

their communities through the years across Ontario

St. Catharines Public Library

Birth, Marriage, Death Index Historic Images

Clarington Public Library

Wilfrid Laurier University Special Collections

Insert i

2:Deciding what to make available online: ethical and legal issues

Federated Women’s Institute of Ontario● Tweedsmuir Community History Collections

○ Proactive - Each book reviewed for privacy issues before releasing to public

○ Pages with private information not available to public ■ Minimal concerns found■ Privacy sheet created for each collection - internal

● Home & Country Newsletters○ No privacy concerns as always accessible to public

● Minutes and Record Books○ less than 50 years old remain private due to membership lists

● Other - reviewed for privacy or copyright concerns

Federated Women’s Institute of OntarioWhat is considered private

1. Contact Information of a living person. 2. Birth or marriage dates of a living person. 3. Biography of a living person or one who died within last 30

years4. Membership list < 50 years old. 5. Photograph created after 1948 and either a copyright or

privacy concern.6. Any other item the reviewer feels should not be provided to the

public.NOT CONCERNED IF NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS

St. Catharines Public Library

● Birth, Marriage and Death Index ○ Not the complete notice - just names, dates,

locations, publication, page, etc.○ 1830s through 1930 and 2005 through present day○ 59,000 records

● Historic Images Collection○ Rare photos, images, post cards from our Special

Collections department○ 1,100 images

Clarington Public Library

Wilfrid Laurier University Special Collections

3:Dealing with the public: policies and ongoing management

Federated Women’s Institute of Ontario

● Complaints from Public○ None received to date○ Plan to remove item if a complaint received

● Bottleneck in Review○ So far, 57 books available but many more waiting to be reviewed○ Members seem to be unwilling to be the person to make decisions

● Tweedsmuirs○ Guidelines have been updated to try and not put private items in the

Tweedsmuirs to start with

Federated Women’s Institute of OntarioOngoing Management

● Need to set up a schedule to review privacy reports and release items into public as go past privacy date

● Working with libraries, archives, museums, etc. that wish to make accessible Tweedsmuirs and other books in their collections

● Minutes and other record books < 50 years old○ Do you digitize these now for preservation reasons while you are

doing the rest?■ If yes, where do you store them? Some won’t be accessible for

40+ years.■ If no, then need to return to location to do them at a later time and

could be lost over time

St. Catharines Public Library

● No formal policy● We will remove upon written request● Only a few requests to date (approx. half dozen)● Have encountered issues with items being deleted

from our site, but not from OurOntario site

Clarington Public Library

Wilfrid Laurier University Special Collections

Audience questions

Further discussion

Community forum: http://help.vitatoolkit.ca/about.asp?ID=4#!/personal-information

Not all information wants to be free, ethical considerations for digitization (talk by Tara Robertson): http://tararobertson.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/code4libNYS.pdf

Thank you!• http://collections.fwio.on.ca/search• http://bmd.stcatharines.library.on.ca/en/searc

h• http://vitacollections.ca/claringtonnews/searc

h• http://images.ourontario.ca/Laurier/search