Tech-Savvy Patron Finds Privacy Glitch in Library Coop's Web Site

-- Library Journal, 01/03/2007

Librarians consider it part of their mission to protect patrons' privacy, so a technical slip uncovered by a tech-savvy patron may have saved the Lakeland Library Cooperative, Grand Rapids, MI, from a real crisis. As the Muskegon Chronicle reported, resident Christopher VanOosterhout, an independent Internet commerce consultant, was updating his library account online and questioned the system's security. He checked the source code on his browser and found a list of 15,000 library patrons, including phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and street addresses. Martha McKee, the cooperative's interim director, blamed it on a software malfunction, since fixed. She told the newspaper that those on the list would be notified of the security lapse and issued a new library card bar code.