Dear Charles
do you think we need special legislation about the disposal of USBs that users
forget in libraries? I don't think you meant to say this.
In fact from ISO / BSI standards to FOI and data protection laws we are already
plenty of norms that clearly affirm the principle that it is essential to make
transparent (i.e. documented) whatever operation about data and records
management you perform in a controlled environment - especially if it is
public.
The true problem we have is that all these norms are not enough to inspire,
support and enforce the right behaviours and people get easily confused about
what to do in absence of leadership and guidance.
We simply cannot control in a transparent and documented way what happen to the
dozens of phones, tablets, USBs, disks, ipods, ipads and other technological
gadgets people bring and forget into library information centres and other
public spaces.
So all in all I think is better to clearly state users are the only responsible
for their own stuff and their forgetted USBs will be instantly destroyed if
found unattended - and I would also add a picture of the little shop of orrors
to reinforce the concept visually :)
It is obvious that these behaviours can be declined in an infinite variety of
practical ways - for instance, the size of the service and the number of daily
users matter when dealing with single users in a "personalised way" that allows
high levels of discretionality. But the essential thing is that the discussion
and what is agreed and fixed in a policy by members of staff in a precise
context do not diverge from the principle of keep the process clear.
Brunella Longo
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