Customizing Privacy Conversations

Staff will practice how to adapt the language they use in conversations with patrons about privacy issues to meet the needs of their audience.

Library staff will adapt their language when describing privacy concerns to different audiences.

Group, Continuing

More than 30 minutes.

Training Outline

Start by introducing the concept of personas using the “What is a Persona?” information sheet.
Provide each staff member with a persona handout and its matching script to read.
After the staff have had a chance to fully explore their given persona and script, lead a discussion focusing on patron privacy concerns. Staff will discuss how to respond to the specific privacy concern in the script for their patron persona. The facilitator will then ask staff (in a group or individually) to discuss how they would modify their discussion with a different type of patron. For example, how would you discuss the importance of password protection with:
- A child
- A non-native English speaker or immigrant
- Someone with a hearing impairment
- Elderly couple
- Someone with a cognitive impairment
- University student

The facilitator will discuss the importance of adapting the messaging given the patron. Who are you trying to serve? How do you match the needs of the person?