Virginia Dressler and Cindy Kristof, University Libraries, presented “The Right to be Forgotten and Digital Collections: Surveying Practice and Policy at ARL Member Institutions” at the Information Freedom, Ethics and Integrity, NISO Virtual Conference on April 18, 2018.
Summary: In the spring of 2017, digital librarians at Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member institutions were surveyed on practices and policies surrounding takedown requests in openly accessible digital collections. The survey collected demographic information and also presented a series of hypothetical scenarios for respondents to consider and reflect upon. The survey received a 25.8 percent response rate, with many intriguing insights into how practitioners consider these type of requests. Survey findings and general background on the topic of the right to be forgotten were presented, along with a discussion on future recommendations for work in this area.