Colleges share many things on Twitter, but one topic can be risky to broach: the reading habits of library patrons. Patrons' privacy is precious to most librarians. Yet new Web services thrive on collecting and sharing the very information that has long been protected. This points to an emerging tension as libraries embrace digital services.…

Distance educators won't have to become FBI-style investigators, installing cameras in the homes of online students and scanning fingerprints to ensure that people are who they say they are. At least not yet. The recently reauthorized Higher Education Opportunity Act requires accreditors to monitor steps colleges take to verify that an enrolled…

If you work at a community college that teaches cybersecurity, it pays to be located in the backyard of a spy agency. Just don't ask Kelly A. Koermer, administrator of the Anne Arundel Community College, what's inside those dark towers at Fort Meade. She points out other highlights of the restricted region: an employees-only exit off the highway,…

As the federal government prepares to pour billions of stimulus dollars into increased broadband Internet access, colleges are trying to claim much of the money and shape the emerging national networking policy. Their focus is $4.7-billion that will be doled out under a new grant program administered by a small Commerce Department agency called…