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Introduction The Importance of Evidence-Based Practice in Information Policy Hello reader! Welcome to this discussion of some of the biggest ethical crises in information privacy faced by library patrons today. You may be wondering, what sets this book apart from other library privacy books available today? Simple. This is not a book that tells you “this is what we say is best and you must do it.” Rather, it is a book written with a firm belief in evidence-based practice, the idea that professionals should stay abreast of current research and trends in practice in order to inform best practice at their own institutions. Evidence-based practice first emerged in the medical professions, where it was decided that research, personal wisdom, and insight about a specific situ- ation was more likely to result in positive medical outcomes than tradition and personal convictions. Following this belief in evidence-based practice, this book synthesizes librarian opinions, library policies, case studies, empirical research for library and information science and other fields, American Library Association pub- lications, privacy philosophy . . . and a bit of our own opinions, developed while reading all this literature. This book does not say “this is definitely the answer for your library” it says, “this is what researcher X said, library Y did effectively, and the ALA suggests.” We all know that if you have worked at one library, then . . . you have worked at one library. Unless you want to pay for us to personally visit your library and solve all its privacy problems based on its unique status and needs (which we are more than happy to do), this is the next best thing. Each chapter of this book is a complete review and analy- sis of a different library privacy issue. As the book progresses, we introduce increasingly more complex technologies and issues. Why focus on privacy? Librarians consistently regard privacy as an incred- ibly pressing concern (Zimmer 2014).1 The evolution of technology and attacks against privacy is rapid, and many professionals are unable to keep on top of