[OPLINLIST] Follow-up on Lynda.com and LinkedIn

[Don Yarman]

There is a growing chorus of concern over Lynda.com becoming LinkedIn
Learning, and the new requirement for library users to have LinkedIn
accounts to continue using the resource. (Please see the announcement at
https://oplin.ohio.gov/lynda-transition.) That is good—it is the duty of
librarians to safeguard the information lives of their patrons. While
for-profit companies which provide library information services have, for
years, been collecting and processing patron information (e.g. OverDrive,
Hoopla, Demco’s line of library software), and in some cases linking to
external social media accounts, never before has a social media account
been required for use of library-paid resources. OPLIN staff raised our
objections with Lynda/LinkedIn Learning representatives when we were
informed in December of plans for this new requirement.

It was not until the end of March that the company delivered a presentation
about LinkedIn Learning for Libraries. OPLIN’s Content Advisory Committee
<https://oplin.ohio.gov/CAC> attended this webinar, and offered LinkedIn
staff their suggestions and their frank opinions. In subsequent discussion,
the Committee determined that while requiring a LinkedIn account was
abhorrent, the value of the resource was such that OPLIN should maintain
the subscription, particularly as those libraries which had previously
provided Lynda.com could not, mid-year, pick up this relatively expensive
subscription for themselves. The OPLIN Board of Trustees concurred.

OPLIN and its peer organizations across North America continue to press
LinkedIn for changes that will align more closely with library ethics
concerning patron data. It is important to note two things:

   1. LinkedIn’s practices are not illegal. State laws governing library
   patron information address only the disclosure, by libraries, of *library
   records*; they do not cover the personal information that users of
   library services themselves provide to library vendors.
   2. No threat on OPLIN’s part to end our agreement is likely to alter
   LinkedIn’s course for the future of Lynda content access. (It is rather
   more likely that LinkedIn would take legal action to hold OPLIN to its
   original agreement to maintain the subscription through June 2021.)

LinkedIn has, in fact, been praised for its compliance with the European
Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the plain-language
clarity of its data privacy policies, and the tools LinkedIn provides its
users for control over their personal information. Of course, effective
usage of these tools requires a degree of information literacy that novice
users have not developed. And without access to a working LinkedIn Learning
for Libraries platform, no one has been able to begin developing guides to
help librarians help their patrons.

OPLIN’s services are funded directly from public library money, and we
strive to align those services with guidance we receive from the public
library community. The guidance we have received so far indicates that
library decision-makers are disturbed by this change, but saw a greater
value in having OPLIN continue to provide statewide access to the content.

                    Don Yarman
                    Director, Ohio Public Library Information Network
                    2323 W Fifth Ave Suite 130, Columbus OH 43204
                    don at oplin.ohio.gov | 614.728.5250
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