Library Services

For many people, libraries are their premier source of free, accessible education materials. While they once were a place where only books could be accessed, their collections over the years have expanded to contain all types of media, from informative to entertaining. Libraries are also often pillars of their communities, representing a place where people can gather to learn new skills and engage with one another. But as the services libraries offer have expanded, a new question has emerged: how can libraries ensure the public is aware and informed of all the amazing opportunities they offer, especially when these programs and services often are facilitated by the municipality and may not be shared beyond recreational enrollment resources?

Applications and Solutions: Learning Portals

Learning portals present an elegant and simple solution to this issue by essentially gathering, describing, and exploring library resources in one place. Essentially functioning as an accessible online database, a learning portal is, at its core, a jump off point that provides a quick and easy overview of available learning materials, programs, and resources. It is typically unnecessary for the learning portal to contain these materials, programs, and resources on its own – instead, it provides an overview of where content is located or how it may be accessed.

Technologies

Website builders – While building websites used to typically require knowledge of HTML and CSS, visual website builders now provide a much more user-friendly experience. The range of customizability typically depends on the platform, but many offer plug-ins and other customization options that can allow for a site to be tailored to specific needs.

Custom Website Creation – Alternatively, learning portals may be built from scratch by using HTML and CSS. This option would likely be better suited for learning portals that seek to host specific types of content that may not be easily embedded into a website builder, or integrate custom web apps (such as recreation enrollment systems) directly into the portal as opposed to simply linking to it.

Portal integration – If the library already has its own website, it may instead consider further integrating some aspects of a learning portal into that site. This allows for the site to become more of a hub of library materials, programs, and resources than it was previously without the need to create a portal from scratch.

Managing Liability Issues

Privacy

Issues.

⚠️ While it may be tempting for libraries to gather data about who is using the learning portal for what and why, doing so raises issues of privacy if that data can be used to identify an individual.

Managing Issues.

✅ Don’t gather data. Cookies and other means of collecting user data can simply not be utilized, or only used to store user settings instead of identifying information.

✅ Only record necessary data. If data is recorded to further develop the portal (i.e. determine which resources are most useful, etc), then it should be done so conservatively and in accordance with privacy laws.

✅ Scrub data of identifying features. Names are typically unnecessary data and should be excluded.

✅ Use disclaimer: If the portal does collect user data, the user should be clearly informed in simple terms of what data is being collected and why. Libraries may also choose to make their data collecting opt-in – although users should be able to use the portal regardless of whether they opt-in or not.

✅ Follow good privacy practices.

Security

Issues.

⚠️ If any data is being recorded and anyone can be identified with that data, then the previously outlined privacy issues also raise issues of security. Data that is stored could potentially be accessed by unauthorized users if proper care isn’t taken to prevent it, allowing for people to be improperly identified.

Managing issues.

✅ Institute privacy solutions. Many privacy solutions that seek to strip identifying data will also address issues of security.

✅ Hold data in a secure location. If data cannot be anonymized, it should be held in a secure location. This ensures individuals cannot be identified by it except in authorized situations.

✅ Limit access. Any collected user data should only be able to be accessed by those who need to use the information.

✅ Follow good security practices.