They seem to agree that privacy should be extended to children and adolescents even in the face of parental questioning. The library card holder is the only one who should have access to her library activities. Certainly, legal precedents exist to support such a case. A bar that lets someone drive home drunk may, in some jurisdictions, be held liable for any damage the drunk might do. The library profession, however, does not view its obligation as protecting the greater good above the individual.
Libraries are a place where a relationship of trust is to be maintained and held sacred.
Even reference questions must remain private and confidential. Just because a patron reads alternative literature does not mean that the patron agrees with or will be negatively influenced by it. Ethically, it is the librarian's responsibility to hold the sanctity of patron confidentiality above all else. The greatest danger to a person's privacy comes, not from libraries or other public institutions, but from the private sector. Although libraries may not be permitted to disclose patrons' reading and information preferences, bookstore chains can.