The Library's Role in Protecting Teens' Privacy: AYALSA Position Paper:Find out why it's important for libraries serving teens to protect the privacy of teens.

The rights of young people are regularly challenged across the country by schools, organizations and individuals. Libraries, however, play a fundamental role in protecting the intellectual freedom rights of everyone, including teens. In a recent example of a challenge to adolescent rights, the FBI has proposed as set of guidelines for surveilling Internet use by at-risk students in secondary schools, in an attempt to prevent recruitment of youth in the United States by terrorist organizations on the Internet. Besides the lack of published evidence that this is a widespread problem or that being categorized as "at-risk" leads one to succumb to terrorist recruitment any more than other antisocial or self-harming behavior, the guidelines contradict the role of school librarians and staff in supporting the critical thinking and inquiry activities of 21st century learners. Furthermore, the guidelines promote increased surveillance of innocent students already overly surveilled in schools as well as in other contexts, which is an ongoing problem for students of color. Library staff in schools and public libraries are urged to adhere to the 21st century learner standards, to communicate their importance to administrators in protecting student privacy, and to resist unwarranted surveillance, as a professional social responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]