Larchmont Public Library Privacy Policy
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The Larchmont Public Library is committed to protecting the personally identifiable information patrons supply and strive to collect and use only that information necessary to provide or improve library service. Patrons have the right to access their information on the Library’s web site or in person, but will be required to provide proof of identity. Library staff will not disclose patron personal information to others except upon the patron’s consent or request, or unless legally required to do so by a valid subpoena, warrant, or court order. The Library’s Board of Trustees authorizes only the Library Director (or her/his designee) to receive or comply with requests from legally authorized outside agencies. The Library will confer with legal counsel before determining the proper response. Moreover, the Library respects and complies with the requirements of the Library Records Privilege under section 4509 of New York’s Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR).
Library staff, as permitted by the Director, may also disclose information required for Library operations. Typical examples of disclosures for Library operations include disclosed fines owed by minors so that parents may pay fines, or disclosing address or library bar code number to facilitate home delivery by volunteers.
Information Required by the Larchmont Public Library and the Westchester Library System
The following are examples of information that you will be asked to provide to us:
- Any information that can personally identify you, such as your name, physical address, phone number; and email address
- Residency verification, such as driver’s license or utility bill
- Login credentials, including username and password
Patrons should be aware that the information listed above is collected but not stored by the Library; however, the Westchester Library System (WLS) does maintain this information. Data maintained by WLS is outside the control of the Larchmont Public Library. For information about WLS’s privacy policy and use of this information, please see WLS’s Privacy of Patron Data page.
When patrons access our catalog from home, patrons will need the barcode number from their library card and personal identification number (PIN) for authentication purposes. Third- party service providers may require a patron’s barcode and PIN for verification purposes but they do not have access to Library records containing personal information.
Automatically Collected Information
When patrons use Library services, such as our website and mobile applications, some computer servers may automatically capture and save information electronically about usage of our Library services. Examples of information that servers may collect include:
- Patron’s Internet Protocol (IP) address
- Patron’s location (Some online services provide access based on location in New York State)
- Kind of web browser or electronic device
- Date and time of visit
- Website visited immediately before arriving at the Library’s website
- Pages viewed on Library website
If you are using a Library device, we may also record your Library barcode, time and length of your session, and the websites that you visited.
Users should be aware that the Larchmont Public Library is a member of a consortium, the WLS. WLS, in conjunction with the other public libraries in the County, provides numerous services including the Integrated Library System (ILS) which is the computer backbone that manages circulation, cataloging and acquisitions. WLS also provides the “virtual desktops” Larchmont Public Library staff use to do their work. Finally, WLS and Larchmont provide various services such as Libby, Hoopla etc. that require personally identifiable information. What happens to patron information is controlled by these entities and is governed by their Privacy Policies. WLS’s Privacy of Patron Data page explains this more fully and has links to many of the 3rd party services’ privacy pages. This is in addition to WLS’s Privacy Policy. (Additionally, Larchmont Public Library uses 3rd party services that are not provided by WLS. Here they are along with links to their privacy policies. They include:
- Zoom – Privacy Statement – We use Zoom to provide online programs
- Booksite – Privacy Policy – We use Booksite to create curated lists with cover art such as Recently Ordered Fiction.
The Library is committed to keeping such information, as in the above examples, only as long as needed to provide Library services.
Links to Other Sites
The Library uses browser cookies to ease user access to our catalog and databases. Cookies are small data files that the Library’s computer server sends to the user’s Web browser that are then stored on the user’s hard drive. These cookies do not collect, store, or maintain personally identifiable information. Users do not have to accept these cookies in order to visit or use our website and resources, and users can choose to refuse cookies or delete cookies from their hard drive.
Cookies
We use browser cookies to ease your access to our catalog and databases. Cookies are small data files that our computer server sends to your Web browser that are then stored on your hard drive. These cookies do not collect, store, or maintain your personally identifiable information. You do not have to accept these cookies in order to visit or use our website and resources, and you can choose to refuse cookies or delete cookies from your hard drive.
Email and Data Collection
You have the option of providing us with your email for two distinct purposes. One is to receive information pertaining to your library account, e.g. hold availability, approaching due dates, overdues, etc. These emails are managed by WLS. The other emails you can choose to receive pertain to upcoming library events, closures, explanations of Library services and so on. These emails are managed by Constant Contact whose privacy policies are here. Giving your email to receive information about your library account does not mean you are signed up to receive program announcements and vice versa. You may remove your email at any time.
The Larchmont Public Library and the Westchester Library System use Google Workspaces, a product of Google, Inc., for traditional email functions and other services such as spreadsheets and documents. Additionally, Larchmont Public Library uses Google Analytics to measure visits to our web site (a statistic required by New York State) as well as other statistics such as: visits to particular pages within our site; where the visits to our page originated; and the type of device used for the visit. It does not collect personal information. Google Analytics has a feature that can gather visitors’ demographics and interests. Larchmont Public Library has not turned that feature on in the past and will not in the future.
The Library does not sell or rent personal information to others. The Library uses patron information only for the limited purposes of sending updates and useful information about our programs, promotional information, enhancing the site operation, for statistical purposes, and for overall systems administration.
Although the Library’s staff takes all reasonable precautions to guard privacy, patrons should be aware that Library staff control over Constant Contact and Google is limited. If a patron is concerned about privacy, they may want to ask a Reference Librarian for an explanation of which services are affected and what they can do to minimize or avoid the use of email.
Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about users’ visits to this website is restricted by the Google Privacy Policy. To provide website visitors more choice on how their data is collected by Google Analytics, Google has developed an Opt-out Browser add-on, which is available by visiting Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, to enable users to opt-out of Google’s programs.
As of February 1, 2022, these businesses have their own privacy policies available at:
https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-US for Google
https://endurance.clarip.com/privacycenter/?brand=ctct for Constant Contact.
https://www.nytimes.com/privacy – for the New York Times
Children’s Privacy
The privacy and safety of children is very important to us. Personal information collected by the Library is not shared with any other agency or organization. Due to the ease with which children can be induced to divulge personal information on the Internet, the Library urges parents to supervise their children’s use of the Internet at home as well as in the Library.
Approved by the Larchmont Public Library Board of Trustees 10/15/08
Revised and adopted by the Larchmont Public Library Board of Trustees 4/14/10, 6/13/2012 and 6/8/2022.