NPL Deputy Director Mark West told American Libraries that when users first sign up for internet access, the U.S. Biometrics AccessQ fingerprint-identification technology creates a number that is stored in a database separate from the library system. After the scanner records their fingerprints, users can login anytime by simply pressing the sensor with an index finger to access the computer.
“The board spent three months examining privacy issues with this technology,” West said. “No one can reconstruct someone’s fingerprint by reverse-engineering the number, because it has been tagged and encrypted in a way that is unique to the library’s database.” He added that cardholders will only be asked for a fingerprint scan if they intend to use the internet workstations, and patrons who object to that can request a staff member to log them in.
In 2004, Naperville police subpoenaed the login records of a man who had been viewing pornography at the Nichols branch. In the process of investigating the incident, NPL officials discovered that many patrons logged in using the library cards and PIN numbers of friends or relatives.
West told AL that the library has implemented a policy allowing parents to request software filters on their children’s internet use. “We discovered that kids frequently borrowed each other’s library cards to log on,” he said, “but the new system will prevent that.”
The only other library using similar biometric technology, West said, was the Buffalo and Erie County (N.Y.) Public Library, which purchased the Ultra-Scan Corporation’s Touch and Go system in 2001 as an alternative to using a library card in the downtown library.
Deborah Caldwell-Stone, deputy director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, told AL that use of fingerprint-recognition technology is so new to libraries that ALA has not taken an official position on it. “However, requiring a fingerprint to use a library could discourage some people,” she added. “Libraries need to ensure that no one is denied access to library resources and that policies are in place to guarantee users’ privacy by neither creating nor preserving unnecessary records. As with filtering and privacy concerns, library staff also need to commit to a conversation with their users, communicating frequently and well about changes in technology.”
Posted May 20, 2005.