Interesting! This must be a modern library data thing. No, I was referring
to the checkin/checkout data per item. Locally we have a library that has
kept records back to the early 19th-century. So you can browse the
"bestseller lists" of yore.

On Tue, Apr 16, 2019 at 5:55 PM Karen Coyle <[email protected]> wrote:

> Although "lending records" are "protected" it isn't clear how well they
> are. Libraries, especially those with minimal or no technical staff, are
> probably not the most diligent in systems security. When I was doing
> privacy audits on US public libraries I found that many kept the most
> recent circulation record (even after the item had been checked in)
> until the next circulation - which could be indefinitely. The reasoning
> was that if they found a problem with the item (damage, for example)
> they would be able to find and charge the last patron to have the book
> out. This means that nearly every book in the library has an actual
> patron record associated with it at all times, which is an obvious
> security risk since library systems may not themselves be secure. (I
> wasn't able to determine if the records are kept "in the clear" but I
> would not be surprised if they were.)
>
> Remember that "protected" is a relative status, not absolute, and that
> legal protection \= hacker proof.
>
> kc
>
> On 4/16/19 5:45 PM, Alex Stinson wrote:
> > Jane: do you mean circulation numbers? Lending records are typically
> > protected and an important part of at least American librarianship has
> > been the protection of intellectual freedom by refusing to share that
> > information at all costs (and its held up in American courts).
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Alex
> >
> > On Tue, Apr 16, 2019 at 11:30 AM Federico Leva (Nemo)
> > <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
> >
> >     Jane Darnell, 16/04/19 18:26:
> >     > access lending data for libraries in any locale. So it may be
> >     useful if
> >     > we could have some property on Wikidata indicating whether or not
> the
> >     > library keeps lending records, and if so, how far back they go.
> >
> >     Do you mean data retention policies for lending records? What
> detailed
> >     information is recorded about each lending, what aggregation or
> purging
> >     happens and when?
> >
> >     Federico
> >
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> >
> >
> > --
> > Alex Stinson
> > Senior Program Strategist
> > Wikimedia Foundation
> > Twitter:@glamwiki/@sadads
> >
> > Learn more about how the communities behind Wikipedia, Wikidata and
> > other Wikimedia projects partner with cultural heritage organizations:
> > https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM
> >
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>
> --
> Karen Coyle
> [email protected] http://kcoyle.net
> skype: kcoylenet
>
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