The literature review deals with the topic of protecting the privacy of patrons' data in academic libraries to find out the latest developments in scientific writings with regard to what was written in the subject literature. The time frame of the literature review of the topic " Protecting Patrons' Privacy in Academic Libraries" came to measure the scientific writings that monitored the topic from 2001 to 2021.



Although the period of twenty years or a little more may seem relatively long to include all works, the study strove to clarify the topic's chronological development by starting with 2001, a milestone year in the field of data privacy; the year when the USA Patriot Act was passed against the backdrop of the events of the World Trade Center September 11, 2001, and its impact directly or indirectly on the issuance of data privacy protection laws in the United States of America, leading to the fact that until this moment no law has been issued to protect the privacy of personal data in the United States of America. It also opened the way for violating the citizens' privacy and eavesdropping on their telephone conversations and banking transactions under the pretext of combating terrorism, as well as monitoring the efforts and attempts of the American Library Association to preserve the privacy of the patrons' data from infringement and violation.