Thursday, January 30, 2014

Privacy in the Digital Age: A Conversation to Continue


Thank you to all of those who helped make the Privacy Panel held Wed. Jan. 29 such a success!  We started a great conversation regarding what privacy looks like today and what we can expect from the agencies that play big roles when it comes to collecting and sharing our personal information.  With the help of our panelists, we examined these issues from legal, marketing, and network security perspectives.  Together, these different perspectives gave shape to a more complete picture of personal data management in a digital world, one where laws, policies, and education were lagging behind the exponential growth of technology.  There were lots of great questions from the audience during the session, many of which we were left to ponder after the session ended.  We would like to keep that conversation going and are providing this online forum as a space for students and faculty to continue the discussion of privacy in the digital age.

The following video, "Hot on Your Trail: Privacy, Your Data, and Who Has Access to It" from NPR, touches on many of the issues that we talked about in the panel.  Check it out at the link below to see this well-illustrated and eye-opening portrayal of what is happening to our data during our normal day-to-day:


Here are some questions to get you thinking:

  • Based on the Panel or the video, what concerns do you have personally regarding privacy and your personal data?
  • During the Panel, we examined how the sharing of our data could be both helpful and harmful to us.  It can be collected to make our lives easier or to protect us from potential threats, but does that make it okay?  What level of privacy should we expect and what is reasonable?
  • Both the video and the Panel touched on the fact that our data is being transferred all of the time, often without our realizing it. So much of this stuff is obscure to us, either because of long Terms of Use Agreements or because of a lack of transparency in business and government.  How do we educate ourselves (or our children), especially when technology is changing so rapidly?
  • We got to examine the issue of Privacy from many different angles during our panel.  Looking through the lens of your major, what does privacy mean to you?  How will these issues affect you in your future career?

To contribute to the conversation, DO THE FOLLOWING:
  1. POST a comment to this blog post.  Respond to one of the questions above, or express any lingering thoughts that were left with you after attending the Panel.
  2. Check out some of the other posts.  Do you have any reactions to those comments?  If so, REPLY to keep the conversation going.


Thank you in advance for your participation.  We look forward to reading your comments!

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Upcoming librarian presentations, here and abroad

Champlain librarians are busy preparing conference presentations for the coming months!  We'll be spreading the word about Champlain's unique approach to library teaching and learning.  See the Academic Affairs News blog for details.

New charging station in MIC!

A new charging station is now available in the main floor tower room of Miller Information Commons, courtesy of SGA!  The charger has cables to fit iPhone/iPad devices as well as USB devices, and is located near the vending machine in the tower room.  Come in and recharge!

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Privacy Lost: A Panel Discussion next Wednesday, January 29


Please join us for an interactive panel discussion sponsored by the Champlain College Library where we will address the right to privacy in our daily lives and discuss what "privacy" can, and should, mean in the digital age.

Moderator: John Stroup, Assistant Professor, Division of Education and Human Studies

Panelists include:
· Patrick Sheahan - Judiciary staff member for Sen. Patrick Leahy;
· Eric Friedman - Assistant Professor, Legal Studies;
· Elaine Young – Professor, Stiller School of Business;
· Jonathan Rajewski - Assistant Professor in the Division of Information Technology & Science and Director, Leahy Center for Digital Investigation

The American public values the right to privacy in our daily lives and with regard to our personal information. However, this value can conflict with our desire for speed and efficiency as well as our desire for safety and security. The pace of technological change within the past decade has given us momentous benefits and opportunities, but it has also made surveillance and invasions of privacy extremely easy. Laws and business practices have not yet caught up with this change. Given this dilemma and the context of this technological change, how should individuals, businesses, and public policy approach issues of privacy in the digital age?

Date: Wednesday, January 29th, 2014
Time: 2:00-3:15pm
Place: Hauke Conference Room (Building 25 on campus map)

Snacks will be served!

Friday, January 17, 2014

Online Exhibit: Burlington Waterfront Scenes


Champlain's Llewellyn Collection of Vermont History is a rich trove of information and images about Burlington's past. A new web exhibit, "Historic Burlington Waterfront Scenes," has just been published in our online catalog of the collection. The exhibit features postcards and brochures about businesses, ferries, and rail transportation on the Burlington waterfront at the turn of the twentieth century.

Postcard of Steamboat Ticonderoga Leaving Burlington
Detroit Publishing Company, 1907
Llewellyn Collection of Vermont History, 2010.1.394

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Display: MLK Jr.

 Help us celebrate MLK JR. Day!

Come check out our display of books about MLK Jr. at the Miller Information Commons as we celebrate his life. We will also have buttons to give out starting January 20. Please feel free to take one and honor MLK Jr.'s life. The week of January 20 there will also be a computer set up near the display where you can listen to the many speeches of MLK Jr. 
Hoping you can stop by the library and check it out!

Monday, January 13, 2014

Special Collections Exhibits On Campus This Semester

There are three new special collections exhibits up on campus for you to check out this semester:

Burlington’s Poets Mimeo Cooperative, Roger H. Perry Hall
An exhibit about Burlington's own Poets Mimeo Cooperative, founded in 1972, is on display in the historic conference rooms at Perry Hall. The exhibit features selections of the group's self-published, mimeographed publications from Champlain's Llewellyn Collection of Vermont History, the Fletcher Free Library, and members' private collections. Highlighted are several poems referencing local landmarks, along with images and descriptions of the landmarks. This exhibit will be on display through March 2014.

Burlington Landmarks, Roger H. Perry Hall
Postcard of Edmunds School by Hugh C. Leighton Company, postmarked 1910
Llewellyn Collection of Vermont History, Champlain College, 2010.1.368
The postcard alcove (between the historic library and lounge areas) features postcards from the Llewellyn Collection of Vermont History depicting some of Burlington’s architectural landmarks, including City Hall, the Fletcher Free Library, Memorial Auditorium, and Edmunds School, along with brief histories of the buildings. This exhibit will be on display through March 2014.

Champlain’s Early Years, Miller Information Commons
1943 Catalog, Burlington Business College
Champlain College Archives

We’ve come a long way, baby! The display case in the lobby of MIC features memorabilia from the College Archives about Champlain’s early years as a business school in downtown Burlington. During these years, the school offered instruction in accounting, business correspondence, commercial law, penmanship, typing, and shorthand, among other subjects. This exhibit will be on display through May 2014.




Enjoy!