This study analyzes library policies pertaining to the preservation of privacy on public use computers. A random sample of 1000 public libraries, selected from an initial population of over 8000 listed in the Institution of Museum and Library Services’ Public Libraries Survey, was analyzed to identify 1) what percentage of these libraries has a publicly available policy for patron data privacy on public use computers? 2) what elements are included in these policies? 3) how are the policies communicated (are they available on the library’s website, or only in-person/by request)? 4) Are there common characteristics among the content of privacy policies used by different groups of libraries? A mixture of basic statistical findings and the results of a cluster analysis based on the text data within the privacy policies are provided. Informed by the findings of this analysis, guidance for the development of more detailed and agile public computer data policies is provided.

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