Library Website Form Correspondance
General Information
- Description
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This data set includes all communications and correspondence that come to the libraries via online forms on the library.wisc.edu websites.
- Purpose
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The purpose of this data set is to store the correspondence from library patrons or the general public so that it may be saved and routed to the appropriate library staff member.
- Quick Facts
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The data accumulates and an approximate rate of 300 messages per week. The data is approximately 30 MB on disk.
Data Classifications
- Campus
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- Sensitive: Because this data set stores communication correspondence it will potentially include personally identifiable information in the forms of name and email address. Losing the data would mean the campus libraries are unable to provide some reference services, which would be a failure of our core mission. Finally, exposing this data to unauthorized access would be a violation of library principles for a patron's right to privacy in their information seeking behaviors. This would be a breach of the Libraries' commitment to the ALA code of ethics.
- Library
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- Operational As one of the Libraries' central modes of communication, this data set underpins operational communications used to provide library services to UW-Madison patrons and the public.
- Personal Due to the nature of the correspondence included in this data set, this data should is personal because it includes information written by individual patrons or other people.
Data Contacts
- Data Steward
- Library Website Team lws-lib@lists.wisc.edu
- Data Custodian
- General Library System Shared Development Group sdgstaff-lib@lists.wisc.edu
- Data Consumer
- All Library Staff
Risk Assessment
| Score | Risk Type | Details | Evaluation Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Institutional Knowledge | As communications to library reference services are considered personal and private, losing the data would have no impact on institutional knowledge. The Libraries record institutional knowledge for correspondence in the Gimlet product for use in evaluating reference and other public services. | November 12, 2019 |
| 3 | Data | This data is recoverable by retrieval from server backups. A copy of the database could be restored, but may not include the most recent correspondence. Data could also be recovered by requesting assistance from library staff who may have copies forwarded to them via email. This would be a difficult and tedious process of recovery requiring coordination with potentially all library sfaff. | November 12, 2019 |
| 4 | Library Impact | Losing this data permanently would mean that the campus libraries could not fulfill a critical form of public service. Some of these forms are used as a core mode of communication with campus libraries and reference services. Losing access to the data would make it impossible to answer all reference questions. | November 12, 2019 |
Technical Details
- Specifications
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This data is stored in a relational ?Postgresql? database.
- Correctness
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This data set is accurate if it includes both the correspondence email addresses of the people contacting the Libraries as well as their message to the Libraries.
- Representative Record
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The GLS Library Website Team serve as the managers of the website infrastructure for which this communication service resides in.
TODO: retention schedule?
- Dependencies
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Not applicable.
Access & Use
- Delivery Modalities
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The users or consumers of this data are the library staff members who will respond to the requestor. These will most often be public services staff, but may also be, for example, IT staff responding to a technical support issue. Library staff will be delivered a copy of the patron message via email.
- Lifecycle
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TODO: determine whether a record retention schedule will determine life cycle attributes for retention or archiving.
- Disposition
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This data is stored in a web application within the Libraries' Linux Computing Base server infrastructure. The server infrastructure conforms to University of Wisconsin-Madison requirements for security. It is backed up daily.
- Relevant Processes
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Any member of the public can use the web forms on the Libraries' website to generate a message to be sent to the Libraries. As long as the website is running and forms are accepting submissions, the data that underpins this service is functional.
- Constraints
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TODO: are there retention schedules?