BYOD: Priortizing Service Standards, Disney-style by Dami Philipp
by Dami Philipp
Today’s question: Regarding the practice of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD): Yes or No?
Source: The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans
Answer: NO.
I rest my case.
Sigh. Don’t I just wish.
For the purposes of this blog, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is a term referring to the practice of allowing users (patrons, staff, or students) to bring and use their own personal electronic devices (laptop computers, smartphones, tablets or other devices) in library settings. While there are various benefits and consequences for these types of practices and policies, this post’s focus is on security risks.
Please review the graphic below:
Of the four standards listed in the graphic to the left, which standard do you think commands top priority?
Hint:
Answer: Safety, First!
The American Library Association’s Professional Code of Ethics first lists “providing the highest level of service to all library users”. I believe that there can be no acceptable level of service when there are unsafe practices of any kind. Walt Disney World apparently agrees.
As I mentioned in my blog post, Cloud Computing in Libraries: What Would Marshall Breeding Say?, data systems are subject to security risks, both external and internal. In a recent column, Breeding, an expert on library technology systems, emphasized the need to strengthen libraries’ cybersecurity measures, as he anticipated that the current “political climate may mean at least an incremental policy of attack” (Breeding, 2025).
Source The DOGE Axe Comes for Libraries and Museums | WIRED
Additionally, in the LT 130 course textbook, Using Digital Information Services in the Library Workplace: An Introduction for Support Staff, author Marie Keen Shaw counsels LSS staff that “privacy and confidentiality can be breached when technology systems are not secure from threat, sabotage, or attack (Shaw, 2022). Libraries require secure computing systems to protect patron’s personal data, privacy, and confidentiality, as well as for maintaining functional library digital systems (Shaw, 2022). Safety first, then efficiency, courtesy, and show.
One might think one can trust librarians to safeguard data as best they can, and I agree. However, librarians are also humans. A 2020 study, "BYOD policy compliance: Risks and strategies in organizations” determined the following results:
Previous reviews in this research area (BYOD)had focused solely on the technical issues surrounding BYOD implementation while leaving out the human behavior in complying with security policies which is a major contributing factor to security vulnerabilities…The review reports that security policy compliance in a BYOD environment remains scarce....
Darn those humans!
While I believe there is future room for continuing, if not expanding, the trend of BYOD in the library environment, the old adage “better safe than sorry” might be the best measure for each library’s ability to implement this trend. I look forward to better service practices for all patrons. In the meantime, strengthening the cybersecurity defenses might be the best practice for the near future.
Sources
Breeding, Marshall. (2025). Forty Years of Computers in Libraries: Cycles of Technology and Progress. Computers in Libraries, 45(4), 24–25.
Disney Institute Team (Ed.). (n.d.). Disney Customer Service 101: Why courtesy is not always our first priority. Disney Institute Blog. https://www.disneyinstitute.com/blog/disney-customer-service-101-why-courtesy-is-not-always-our-first-priority/
Disney Institute (Ed.). (2004). Service, Disney Style. Celebration, FL; Disney Institute.
Fowler, S., & McLaughlin, J. (2025, May 16). Labor watchdog opens investigation into Doge Whistleblower claims after NPR reporting. NPR Politics. https://www.npr.org/2025/05/16/nx-s1-5400619/nlrb-doge-investigation
Shaw, M. K. (2022). Using digital information services in the library workplace: An introduction for support staff. Rowman & Littlefield.
Palanisamy, R., Norman, A. A., & Mat Kiah, M. L. (2020). BYOD policy compliance: Risks and strategies in organizations. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 62(1), 61–72. https://doi.org/10.1080/08874417.2019.1703225
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