Privacy
Statement Policy
The Hopkinton Town Library is committed to
protecting the privacy of its staff, donors, customers, and other contacts.
The Library's privacy policy is clear: The Library will not collect personal
information about you or your activities when you visit our website or
register for a program or use our resources.
This confidentiality extends to information
sought or received, and materials consulted, borrowed, or acquired. It
includes database search records, circulation records, interlibrary loan
records, and other personally identifiable uses of library materials,
facilities or services.
The Library maintains information provided by
our patrons from the registration forms they complete when applying for a
library card, such as name, address, telephone number. The Library’s patrons’
account information is placed on the secure portion of the Library’s website.
That is why you have to enter your name and library card number each time you
access your account information.
Occasionally, the Library may conduct a
survey of our patrons to get feedback and comments on our services and
facilities, etc., and the questionnaire may request that you provide personal
identifying information, such as age, gender, education level, etc. This type
of information would be collected only if it would be useful to help the
Library understand better our patrons needs, and would be used only for the
purposes of the particular survey.
Customer Circulation Records
The Library collects and tracks customer
circulation records electronically. When an item is checked out, that item is
then tied to that customer's record in the library's system. At the moment
that item is returned to the library, the link between the customer and the
material is broken.
The Library's system does not retain
circulation information and does not keep a record of patrons’ borrowing
practices.
Computer Workstations
There is no electronic tracking of
workstation use that would enable the library to determine who the customer is
or what was done on a library computer after the customer logs off.
E-mails and Web Forms
Personally identifying information provided
by e-mails or web forms will be used only for such purposes as are described
at the point of collection (for example on a web form), such as to send
information or provide library services to you, update your membership record,
or to respond to your questions or comments.
If you provide contact information, the
Library may contact you to clarify your comment or question, or to learn about
your level of customer satisfaction with library services.
Library’s Web Site: Some Information
Collected and Stored Automatically
As you browse through the library web site,
read pages, or download information, certain information will automatically be
gathered and stored about your use of the web site, not about you. This
information does not identify you personally. The Library automatically
collects and stores only the following information about your visit:
1.
The Internet domain (for example, "xcompany.com"
if a private Internet access account, or "aschool.edu" if connected from a
university) and IP address (an IP address is a number that is automatically
assigned to a computer whenever it is surfing the Web) from which access to
our web site is gained;
2. The type of browser and operating system
used to access the Library's site;
3. The date and time of access to the
Library's site;
4. The pages visited and for how long; and
5. The address of the website from which the
initial visit to
www.hopkintontownlibrary.org was
launched, if any.
The Library uses this information to help
make our site more useful to visitors, and to keep statistics about the number
of visitors to our site and the types of technology our visitors use. The
data retained is not connected to your personal information or identity.
Links to Other Sites
The Library's Web site contains links to
other sites. The Hopkinton Town Library is not responsible for the privacy
practices of other sites, which may be different from the privacy practices
described in this policy. We encourage you to become familiar with privacy
practices of other sites you visit, including linked sites.
The Library's computer system has a logger
file for tracking system errors. This two megabyte file is overwritten when
full.
Security
For site security purposes and to ensure that
this service remains available to all users, the Hopkinton Town Library uses
software programs to monitor network traffic and identify unauthorized
attempts to upload or change information or otherwise cause damage.
Unauthorized attempts to upload information
or change information are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1001 and 1030. Except
for the above purposes, no other attempts are made to identify individual
users or their usage habits.
The Hopkinton Town Library recognizes that
law enforcement agencies and officers occasionally believe that library
records may contain information helpful to the investigation of criminal
activity. If there is a reasonable basis to believe such records are necessary
to the progress of an investigation or prosecution, the American judicial
system provides the mechanism for seeking release of such confidential
records. Library records will not be made available to any agency of state,
federal or local government except pursuant to such process, order or subpoena
as may be authorized under the authority of, and pursuant to, federal, state,
or local law relating to civil, criminal, or administrative discovery
procedures or legislative investigatory power.
Revisions
The Library reserves the right to change or
modify this privacy statement at any time. If the Library revises this privacy
statement, changes will be posted on the Library's homepage.
Adapted from the American Library
Association's Privacy Statement.
Adopted by the Trustees of the Hopkinton Town
Library on May 18, 2004
