Understanding how patrons interact with library resources is a goal that librarians have held for decades. Library science literature contains a wealth of studies regarding the different tools that librarians utilize to better understand the behavior of the patrons they serve. As methods to study user behavior evolved, so too did libraries’ protectionist attitudes towards patron privacy. The emergence of Google Analytics lies at an
intersection of these two phenomena. In one sense, Google Analytics is yet another tool that librarians are employing to understand their users and thus better serve them. But in another sense, since Google Analytics utilizes code to track the attributes and movements of website visitors, the inherent technology of Google Analytics involves an ostensible compromise of something that libraries have been protecting for decades: the personal privacy of patrons. Although it is true that Google Analytics does not allow users of their service to track website visitors individually, the fact that their Terms of Service mandate the inclusion of explicit language in a website’s privacy policy disclosing the nature and use of Google Analytics demonstrates, at the very least, a recognition on the part of Google that their analytics technology requires the capture and analysis of certain portions of people’s online identity. In this sense, this section of Google Analytics’ Terms of Service allows librarians to have the best of both worlds: a
technology that allows them to learn more about their users without having to worry about unduly infringing on their privacy.
This study attempted to see how academic libraries deal with this intersection between studying user behavior and conserving user privacy that lies at the heart of Google Analytics. As mentioned above, 13 out of the 17 library websites in the UNC System have used Google Analytics in the past or are actively using it. Due to time constraints, and the fact that some of the libraries who did run Google Analytics in the past are not actively using it, only five libraries in the UNC System participated in this study.
Readers of this study should come away with three major findings. First, this study provides detailed descriptions of how five libraries in the UNC system employ Google Analytics on their websites. Second, this study also found that four out of the five libraries that were studied do not include explicit language in their website’s privacy policy disclosing the use of Google Analytics, as mandated by Section 7 of Google Analytics’ Terms of Service. Third, this study showed that, out of these five libraries, the employee who was in charge of deploying Google Analytics did not know whether or not their website’s privacy policy included a mention of the use of Google Analytics, and had little to no input regarding their library’s privacy policy (if their library even had their own privacy policy).
These three findings inspire multiple areas for further study. Since only five libraries within the UNC System were featured in this study, a future study could expand the work of this study to every school in the UNC System to gauge why their libraries use Google Analytics, why they don’t use Google Analytics, why they stopped using Google
Analytics, and how their employment of Google Analytics interacts with the language of their library’s (or their university’s) privacy policy. This model could also be applied to libraries across the country. Additionally, since the libraries in this study revealed an incongruence between the privacy mandates of Google Analytics’ Terms of Service and the privacy policies of libraries, more work may need to be done regarding how reactive academic library privacy policies are to emergent technologies, and also how many academic libraries adopt their own privacy policies as opposed to simply inheriting the privacy policies of their university. Yet another study could focus on the use of Google Analytics in other contexts besides the context of academic libraries, and whether or not Google Analytics’ Terms of Service are followed in general.
Ultimately, due to its small sample size, this study should be seen as an exploratory case study of how five librarians in the UNC System employed Google Analytics, and how they balanced that employment with their patrons’ privacy. Further studies are required to see how well the experiences of these five libraries correspond with the experiences of other libraries in the UNC system, and other academic libraries across the country.
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Appendix A: List of UNC System Libraries
1. Appalachian State University. Belk Library website: (http://library.appstate.edu/)
2. East Carolina University. Joyner Library website: (http://www.ecu.edu/cs-lib/)
3. Elizabeth City State University. G.R. Little Library website: (http://www.ecsu.edu/library/)
4. Fayetteville State University. Charles W. Chesnutt Library website: (http://libguides.uncfsu.edu/content.php?pid=501491)
5. North Carolina A&T State University. FD Bluford Library website:(http://www.library.ncat.edu/)
6. North Carolina Central University. James E. Shepard Memorial Library website: (http://web.nccu.edu/shepardlibrary/)
7. North Carolina State University. North Carolina State University Libraries (http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/)
8. UNC Asheville. Ramsey Library website: http://library.unca.edu/
9. UNC-Chapel Hill. UNC Chapel Hill Libraries website: https://library.unc.edu/
10. UNC Charlotte. J. Murrey Atkins Library website: https://library.uncc.edu
11. UNC Greensboro. Jackson Library website: https://library.uncg.edu/
13. UNC Wilmington. UNCW Randall Library website: https://library.uncw.edu
14. UNC School of the Arts. Semans Library website: http://library.uncsa.edu/
15. Western Carolina University. Hunter Library website: https://www.wcu.edu/hunter-library/
16. Winston-Salem State University. CG O’Kelly Library website: https://www.wcu.edu/hunter- library/
17. NC School of Science and Mathematics. NCSSM Library website: http://www2.ncssm.edu/library/home
Appendix B: Interview Guide
1. What is your job description?
2. When did your library decide to implement Google Analytics for your library’s website?
a. Did you consider any other web analytics solutions?
3. Why did your library decide to implement Google Analytics? What were your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)?
a. Did your KPIs change at all over time?
4. How involved were you in the process? What were your responsibilities?
5. What were some of the benefits your library saw in implementing Google Analytics?
6. Where were some of the challenges your library faced in implementing Google Analytics?
7. Who normally gets to decide what goes on the library website?
8. Who normally is responsible for drafting your library’s privacy policy?
10. If you wanted to implement new features to the library website, which library employees would have to approve the implementations of these new features? 11. In what ways did the implementation of Google Analytics affect your library’s
Appendix C: Phone Recruitment Script
ME: Hi, my name is James Moore and I am a Masters Student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I am doing my Master’s Thesis on the effect that
implementing Google Analytics has on the privacy policies on academic libraries. Would you be interested in participating in my study by doing an in-person interview? Of course, your participation in this study is completely voluntary. If you consent to the interview than your answers will be anonymized.
If the interviewee isn’t interested:
ME: Not a problem. Do you know of anyone else involved in your library’s use of Google Analytics who would be interested in conducting an interview?
If the interviewee consents to the interview:
ME: Great! Thank you so much for agreeing to an interview. Would you like to exchange emails and set up a time to conduct the interview? Also, do you know of anyone else involved in your library’s use of Google Analytics who would be interested in conducting an interview?
Appendix D: Google Analytics JavaScript Tracking Snippet
Appendix F: Google Analytics Terms of Service Section 7
“7. PrivacyYou will not and will not assist or permit any third party to, pass information to Google that Google could use or recognize as personally identifiable information. You will have and abide by an appropriate Privacy Policy and will comply with all applicable laws, policies, and regulations relating to the collection of information from Visitors. You must post a Privacy Policy and that Privacy Policy must provide notice of Your use of cookies that are used to collect data. You must disclose the use of Google Analytics, and how it collects and processes data. This can be done by displaying a prominent link to the site “How Google uses data when you use our partners' sites or apps”, (located
at www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/, or any other URL Google may provide from time to time). You will use commercially reasonable efforts to ensure that a Visitor is provided with clear and comprehensive information about, and consents to, the storing and accessing of cookies or other information on the Visitor’s device where such activity occurs in connection with the Service and where providing such information and
obtaining such consent is required by law.
You must not circumvent any privacy features (e.g., an opt-out) that are part of the Service.
You may participate in an integrated version of Google Analytics and certain
DoubleClick and Google advertising services ("Google Analytics Advertising Features"). If You use Google Analytics Advertising Features, You will adhere to the Google
Analytics Advertising Features policy (available
at support.google.com/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&topic=2611283&answer=2700409 ) Your access to and use of any DoubleClick or Google advertising service is subject to the applicable terms between You and Google regarding that service.
If You use the GA 360 Suite Home, Your use of the GA 360 Suite Home is governed by the Google Analytics 360 Suite Home Terms of Services (or as subsequently re-named) available at https://360suite.google.com/terms (or such other URL as Google may
provide) as modified from time to time (the “Suite Home Terms”), but subject to Section 2 of the Suite Home Terms, use of the Service will continue to be governed by this Agreement.” (Google 2016)