The Privacy and Surveillance Community of Practice is an initiative of SPARC to support libraries in better understanding emerging privacy risks and in taking action to mitigate these threats. Currently, the community of practice has three active areas of work:
The Resource Library Working Group is creating talking points and educational materials directed at key constituencies on college and university campuses. This working group was formed in Fall 2022 and is led by Dorothea Salo (Distinguished Teaching Faculty III, University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Lisa Levesque (Law Librarian, Toronto Metropolitan University).
The Contract Language Working Group focuses on better understanding contract terms related to privacy and supporting negotiations to strengthen privacy protections. This working group was formed in Fall 2022 and is led by Ellen Dubinsky (Scholarly Communication Librarian, University of Arizona) and Molly Rainard (Licensing & Acquisitions Manager, Auraria Library).
SPARC has partnered with Becky Yoose of LDH Consulting Services to conduct an in-depth analysis of vendor data privacy risks and produce a set of resources for responding effectively to these risks. The first output from this collaboration, Navigating Risk in Vendor Data Privacy Practices: An Analysis of Elsevier’s ScienceDirect, was published in November 2023. The second, Navigating Risk in Vendor Data Privacy Practices: An Analysis of Springer Nature’s SpringerLink, was published in October 2024.
Join the Community of Practice
Submit this form to learn more about participating in the Privacy & Surveillance Community of Practice and to stay up to date on SPARC’s relevant work in this area. Please note that the community of practice is limited to those working in libraries.
Forthcoming Resources
- Model Contract Language for Privacy: SPARC is in the process of developing model contract language for libraries to consider when negotiating for stronger privacy protections. Currently in draft form, we expect this language to be available for a pilot in the coming months, with wider distribution afterward along with a companion explainer document.
- Talking Points for Key Campus Constituencies: The Resource Library Working Group of our Privacy & Surveillance Community of Practice is producing talking points documents for addressing privacy concerns with key campus constituencies. The first set of these documents will soon be made available on this page.
If you have suggestions for advancing SPARC’s work in this area or would like to make us aware of specific vendor privacy concerns, please contact Michele Gibney, SPARC’s Visiting Program Officer for Privacy & Surveillance.