Confidentiality of Patron Records

All patron records are confidential in nature.  No information will be released unless prior approval has been made by the cardholder on their card application or in their account information.  A court order is required to view and/or receive a copy of this information by anyone other than the designated persons. All of these requests are to be brought to the attention of the Director.

Exceptions to Confidentiality

Under Ohio law, a patron’s library records or information shall not be made available to any agency of federal, state, or local government, or to any spouse or other individual other than the individual who is the subject of the record or information, except as follows:

For the records or patron information pertaining to minor children when requested by parents, guardians, or custodians.

In accordance with a subpoena, search warrant, or other court order, or to a law enforcement officer who is investigating a matter involving public safety in exigent circumstances.

Upon the request or with the consent of the individual who is the subject of the record or information.

For library administrative purposes as defined by Ohio Revised Code 149.432.

Releasing Patron Information

Due to the confidentiality patron records, the release of patron account information is limited.

Library staff will provide access to patron account information at a service desk to a patron who has the library card in hand for that account. Staff may choose to ask for additional identification.

Library staff will release library information or library records pertaining to a minor child to that child’s parent, guardian, or custodian upon presentation of the child’s library card, or patron number, or sufficient information to both indentify the child’s library record, and to provide library staff with a reasonable assurance that the person requesting the information is indeed the child’s parent, guardian, or custodian.

Library staff will provide access to patron account information over the telephone to a caller who can provide both the library account number and the patron’s birth date or the address associated with that account.

When a lost card is reported over the telephone, the patron account associated with that card will be blocked.  In order to have an account removed from the system, the patron whose account is in question must come to the library in person to fill out the appropriate form for account removal.  The patron may be asked to provide additional identification.  If the patron would like their account unblocked, they must come to the library in person and provide proper identification for the account to be released.

Because identification is difficult to verify over the telephone, library staff will provide only limited access to patron account information to the caller who does not have the patron’s library account number but can provide the patron’s name, address, and birth date.

Protecting Stored Personal Information

The library takes the following steps to protect stored personal information in the library building and in the library’s databases:

Patron Information

Patron information provided to the library is used only for library related activities.  No patron information is ever sold.

The library considers patron registration and circulation information confidential.  Any release of this information follows the established guidelines for releasing patron information.

Only the Library Director is permitted to handle a request for release of patron information in the case of a subpoena, search warrant, or other court order.

All library notices and internal forms with personal information are shredded.

The library no longer requests social security numbers as part of the patron registration process.  Registrations made prior to this change have all been shredded.

The library yearly purges patron records that are in good standing but have not been used for at least three years.

Patron web activities are automatically erased after each computer use session.

Database security

Only certain members of the staff have access to particular elements of the library’s database.  Database access is only granted to those individuals who require admission to perform their duties.

The library does not store data information on site.  The State Library of Ohio stores, backs up and provides security for the information in the database.

The library has separate servers for staff and public computers.  The wireless network does not have access to the IP ports of the staff computers.

The library’s computer servers are on battery backups to prohibit the loss or compromise of information.  Surge protectors are also used on all computers.

Spam and virus protection is maintained and updated often on every computer in the library.

All public computers have an idle timeout which automatically logs out of an open computer session.  Once logged out, the information related to that computer session is automatically deleted.

Each patron account has a specific number and an assigned patron PIN which a patron may change to add increased security to their online account.

Computer and database passwords are changed at least once a year, but may be changed more frequently.

Financial records are only available through the Fiscal Officer.  Financial records are not hosted on the library’s server.

Website Privacy

Any personal information you provide to us on our website, including but not limited to your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address will not be released, sold, or rented to any entities or individuals outside of St. Clairsville Public Library unless required by law.

In common with other websites, log files are stored on the web server saving details such as the visitor’s IP address, browser type, referring page and time of visit.

Cookies

Cookies may be used to remember visitor preferences when interacting with the website, and when using the website. These cookies are used to help improve the web site and provide aggregate web metrics. No personal identifiable information is collected from these cookies.

Our web pages use a cookie that is used to generate aggregate data using web analytics and does NOT collect any personable identifiable information. The type of information collected by this service is limited to web metrics such as:

1. Type of User Agent (Web Browser) used, software manufacturer, and version

2. Type of Operating System (IE: Windows, Linux, Apple, etc)

3. Screen Colors (Color Processing ability of your monitor)

4. JavaScript Support (if your web browser supports or has JavaScript enabled or disabled)

5. Adobe Flash Plug-in Version

6. Screen Resolution

7. Network Location, IP Address, and Country

8. Referring Site Statistics (The web page url which brought you to this page, or what search engine and/or keywords brought you to our site)

This information is used to improve the library’s web site, and to improve the computer and technology services we offer to our patrons and the public. This data does not contain any personal identifiable information.

You can block cookies if you wish, but certain parts of the web site may not function.

External Sites

St. Clairsville Public Library is not responsible for the content of external internet sites. You are advised to read the privacy policy of external sites before disclosing any personal information.

Remember The Risks Whenever You Use The Internet

While we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information that you transmit to St. Clairsville Public Library and you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of any passwords or other account information. In addition other Internet sites or services that may be accessible through St. Clairsville Public Library have separate data and privacy practices independent of us, and therefore we disclaim any responsibility or liability for their policies or actions.

Please contact those vendors and others directly if you have any questions about their privacy policies.

For further information, you may contact the library at 740-695-2062.