A "San Francisco Gate" news article mentions that under The Patriot Act, library records of patrons can be confiscated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. One potential topic could be exploring the moral, ethical, and security implications of this piece of legislation. The thesis could delve into privacy concerns in addition to which parties are most affected. Explain if certain books should be targeted as potentially dangerous, or if checking out such books should trigger an automatic investigation. The topic of racial profiling could easily be included in this thesis.
Lady Bird Jackson reflected on the library as one of the most democratic places in a community. As information becomes decentralized through the Internet, your thesis can be about whether the role of the library is still the same as it was hundreds of years ago. You can make predictions about the future of the library: Is a physical space necessary? Will large shelves of books be removed and will computers containing the same information replace them?
Using a fingerprint or retina for purposes of identification are a few examples of biometric technology. The United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office mentions in a 2008 memo that several schools are using fingerprinting technology to monitor book borrowing and registration. This technology could facilitate the process of self-check-out at the library and to catalogue information. A fingerprint scan could provide access to the patron’s age, gender, and previous books read.
For your thesis, you might elaborate on the benefits and disadvantages of biometrics in cataloguing and identification. For example, biometrics could be used to determine which book is most frequently checked out and by which demographic. On the other hand, many might view this technology as a serious invasion of privacy.
E-books can greatly reduce the physical inventory needed and instantly provide a book with the click of a mouse. Write a thesis which explores the cost of this new technology, if all libraries can implement it and which groups are most likely to read e-books. Copyright laws and how to acquire these books from authors and publishers could also be explored. Write about additional items necessary, like computers or electronic readers (like Kindles), and how the checkout process might work with this nonphysical book copy.