NYC Digital Safety: Privacy & Security is a partnership between New York City’s three library systems — Brooklyn Public Library, The New York Public Library, and Queens Library — and METRO Library Council. With support from the City of New York Mayor’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer, this project ensures that NYC residents can rely on public libraries for their questions about internet privacy and security.
Many New York City residents use digital technology nearly every waking hour of their day. From using email at work to browsing social media on the subway to streaming television shows at home, we are consistently providing Internet Service providers and myriad online entities with a wealth of data about us. This information can be utilized to influence our behavior, and, more pressingly, can be used against us in the event of, for example, a successful phishing attempt or a data breach.
More than 1,200 library staff members throughout the five boroughs participated in NYC Digital Safety training in our first phase in 2018. View the online training modules here, and the follow-on in-person workshop here.
In July 2022, we presented an update to the look and feel of this website, launching with brand new training videos, out-of-the-box and modifiable lesson plans for libraries to use when teaching member of the public, an updated glossary, and new places to go to learn more about this pressing topic. Translated materials for as many lesson plans as we could afford were added in May 2023.
As part of these efforts, we presented Library Privacy Week. In our four years presenting this event, nearly 120 events have been held across the city, showcasing the library systems’ central role in providing resources and support to NYC residents wishing to safeguard their data.