Churchill County Library Commitment to Our Users Rights of Privacy and Confidentiality
This privacy policy explains your privacy and confidentiality rights, the steps this library takes to respect and protect your privacy when you use library resources, and how we deal with personally identifiable information that we may collect from our users.
Our commitment to your privacy and confidentiality has deep roots not only in Nevada state law (NRS 239.013) law but also in the ethics and practices of librarianship. In accordance with the American Library Association’s Code of Ethics:
“We protect each library user’s right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired, or transmitted.”
- Notice & Openness We affirm that our library users have the right of “notice”—to be informed about the policies governing the amount and retention of personally identifiable information, and about why that information is necessary for the provision of library services. We post publicly and acknowledge openly the privacy and information-gathering policies of this library. Whenever policies change, notice of those changes is disseminated to our users.
- Choice & Consent This policy explains our information practices and the choices you can make about the way the library collects and uses your information. We will not collect or retain your private and personally identifiable information without your consent. If you wish to receive borrowing privileges, we must obtain certain information about you in order to provide you with a library account. When visiting our library’s website and using our electronic services, you may choose to provide your name, e-mail address, library card barcode, phone number or home address. Further, if you consent to give us your personally identifiable information, we will keep it confidential and will not sell, license or disclose personal information to any third party without your consent, unless we are compelled to do so under the law or to comply with a court order. You have the option of providing us with your e-mail address for the purpose of notifying you about your library account. You may request that we remove your e-mail address from your record at any time.
- Access by Users Individuals who use library services that require the function and process of personally identifiable information are entitled to view and/or update their information. You may either view or update your personal information online or in person. In both instances, you may be asked to provide some sort of verification such as a pin number or identification card to ensure verification of identity. The purpose of accessing and updating your personally identifiable information is to ensure that library operations can function properly. Such functions may include notification of overdue items, holds, reminders, etc.
- Data Integrity & Security Data Integrity: The data we collect and maintain at the library must be accurate and secure. We take reasonable steps to assure data integrity, including: using only reputable sources of data; providing our users access to your own personally identifiable data; updating data whenever possible; utilizing middleware authentication systems that authorize use without requiring personally identifiable information; destroying untimely data or converting it to anonymous form. Data Retention: We protect personally identifiable information from unauthorized disclosure once it is no longer needed to manage library services. Information that should be regularly purged or shredded includes personally identifiable information on library resource use, and material circulation history. Tracking Users: We remove links between patron records and materials borrowed when items are returned and we delete records as soon as the original purpose for data collection has been satisfied. We permit in-house access to information in all formats without creating a data trail. We do not ask library visitors or website users to identify themselves or reveal any personal information unless they are borrowing materials, requesting special services, or making remote use from outside the library of those portions of the Library’s website restricted to registered borrowers under license agreements or other special arrangements. We discourage users from choosing passwords or PINs that could reveal their identity, including social security numbers. We regularly remove cookies, Web history, cached files, or other computer and Internet use records and other software code that is placed on our computers or networks. Third Party Security: We ensure that our library’s contracts, licenses, and off-site computer service arrangements reflect our policies and legal obligations concerning user privacy and confidentiality. Should a third party require access to our users’ personally identifiable information, our agreements address appropriate restrictions on the use, aggregation, dissemination, and sale of that information, particularly information about minors. In circumstances in which there is a risk that personally identifiable information may be disclosed, we will warn our users. When connecting to licensed databases outside the library, we release only information that authenticates users as “members of our community.” Nevertheless, we advise users of the limits to library privacy protection when accessing remote sites. Cookies: Users of networked computers will need to enable cookies in order to access a number of resources available through the library. A cookie is a small file sent to the browser by a website each time that site is visited. Cookies are stored on the user’s computer and can potentially transmit personal information. Cookies are often used to remember information about preferences and pages visited. You can refuse to accept cookies, can disable cookies, and remove cookies from your hard drive. Our Library servers use cookies solely to verify that a person is an authorized user in order to allow access to licensed library resources and to customize Web pages to that user’s specification. Cookies sent by our Library servers will disappear when the user’s computer browser is closed. We will not share cookies information with external third parties. Security Measures: Our security measures involve policies and procedures to protect against loss and the unauthorized access, destruction, use, or disclosure of the data. Our measures include internal organizational procedures that limit access to data and ensure that those individuals with access do not utilize the data for unauthorized purposes. Our technical security measures to prevent unauthorized access include encryption in the transmission and storage of data; limits on access through use of passwords; and storage of data on secure servers or computers that are inaccessible from a modem or network connection. Staff access to personal data: We permit only authorized Library staff with assigned confidential passwords to access personal data stored in the Library’s computer system for the purpose of performing library work. We will not disclose any personal data we collect from you to any other party except where required by law or to fulfill an individual user’s service request. The Library does not sell or lease users’ personal information to companies or individuals.
- Enforcement & Redress Our library will not share data on individuals with third parties unless required by law. Library users who have questions, concerns, or complains about the library’s handing of their privacy and confidentiality rights should file written comments with the Director of the Library. We will respond in a timely manner and may conduct a privacy investigation or review of policy and procedures.
Approved by the Churchill County Library Board of Trustees December 19, 2013
