Thank you Caitlin for your response. I really enjoyed reading your observations regarding intentions of commercial entities. This is something I find fascinating as these companies rely heavily on personal information to target their products and services. Like I was saying to Stacey, I think users should always be given the option to opt-out of any service that gathers personal data even if it’s only data on their lending. It is also interesting to read how some users do not mind handing over personal data to business in exchange for an improved user experience with their service.
Thank you for your insight into RA services that don’t necessary need to collect personal data and the different methods libraries can used to help patrons choose their next book. For smaller businesses there is no need to implement big data collection though some larger libraries or libraries that share a lot of resources may be able to benefit outside of RA. I really like your idea of creating a small connected community online through services like Twitter which is something that patrons who might not have easy access to their local library would really benefit from.