Re: SSNs and patron record security

[Wendy Schmidt <wschmidt at mail dot sdsu dot edu>]

Sandra,

Our campus moved away from the use of SSNs last year at this time.  We now 
use a random 9 digit identifier which we call "Red ID", because it appears 
in red on the id card.  Our Circulation Desk staff also deal with 
off-campus patrons who do not have red id numbers.  We identify these 
patrons by the barcode number we assign them.  The barcode number appears 
in the barcode field and in the SSN field.  We have not had any difficulty 
or problems doing this and no library staff have access to any social 
security numbers.  I believe this to be better than asking for SSNs as 
there are not only the legal issues to be considered, but very real privacy 
issues in collecting SSNs from off-campus patrons.  What do you do when 
they refuse to give you their SSN?

Wendy


At 10:40 AM 3/24/2005, Card, Sandra wrote:
> Our university used SSNs as the campus id number in the past.  Now they use
> an alternate locally assigned number, the campus id number (CIN).  We have
> replaced SSNs with CINs for most campus patrons (some older records don't
> have the new CIN and are due to be archived anyway).  Naturally, there are
> legal considerations with the use of SSNs. In our case, there are various
> state laws which we have to comply with, some by 7/1/05 and the rest by
> 7/1/06.  Our circulation staff feel they need SSNs for various off-campus
> patrons (there are still cases in which the use of SSNs internally is still
> legal, but the data must be protected).  I proposed using the new feature in
> Silver of protecting a field to lock the SSN data away from view except for
> a few specified staff.  Circulation staff insist the student assistants who
> work at the desk need access to that field.  One case would be the keying of
> a new patron record for an off-campus patron.  We do not register all that
> many off-campus patrons, so it would not be a burden to have staff enter
> those few records.  So:
>
> Do you still have SSN data in your patron records? [I would like to erase
> all SSN data!]
> If so, who has access to that data?
> Do student assistants, in particular, have any access?
> How do you secure SSN data to meet legal requirements?
>
> Sandra Card
> Library
> California State University, Los Angeles
> scard at calstatela dot edu
> 323-343-4894
>
>
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People may not always remember exactly what you said or what you did, but 
they will always remember how you made them feel.
    Wendy Schmidt

    Circulation Desk Unit Head       wschmidt at mail dot sdsu dot edu dot 
    Library & Information Access           (619)  594-5759   Phone
    San Diego State University              (619)  594-0742   Fax
    5500 Campanile Dr.
    San Diego  CA  92182-8050







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