PRIVACY
& CONFIDENTIALITY POLICY
Libraries are
committed to providing access to a wide range of information and ideas without
restriction. By prioritizing privacy, libraries uphold their core values of
intellectual freedom, confidentiality and the equitable provision of
information and services to all individuals. Privacy ensures that any
individual has the right to explore and access information freely without fear
of judgement, surveillance or repercussions. Libraries are bound by laws and
professional ethics to protect patron privacy. Pennsylvania state law (24 Pa.C.S. 9375) requires that all
materials borrowed by a user of a library must be kept confidential and cannot
be accessed by anyone except by a court in a criminal proceeding.
MCLINC (Montgomery
County Library and Information Network Consortium) recognizes your right to
privacy regarding the physical and electronic materials you borrow. This notice
explains your privacy and confidentiality rights, and the steps MCLINC takes to
respect and protect those rights when you use MCLINC library resources, either
inside or outside your library. MCLINC
resources in your library include:
§ our Integrated
Library System, a relational database we use to track materials owned, orders
made, bills paid, and patrons who have borrowed, and due dates for library
materials
§ our library network
§ access to the
internet
§ library computers
MCLINC collects only
the data necessary for the services we provide. The data below is purged
annually for cards unused for 7 years.
|
Data |
How Long |
Why |
|
Name |
REQUIRED
as long as you are a patron of a MCLINC Library |
To
identify you |
|
Date of Birth |
REQUIRED
as long as you are a patron of a MCLINC Library |
To
identify you |
|
Address |
REQUIRED as long as you are an MCLINC
patron. We ask you to update this information every 3 years
when you renew your library card. |
To
identify you and communicate with you about your library materials and
requests. |
|
Email Address |
OPTIONAL.
We ask you to update this information every 3 years when you renew your
library card. |
To
communicate with you about your library materials and requests. |
|
Telephone Number (home and/or cell phone number) |
REQUIRED.
We ask you to update this information every 3 years when you renew your
library card. |
To
communicate with you about your library materials and requests. |
|
Cell Phone Carrier |
OPTIONAL.
We ask you to update this information every 3 years when you renew your
library card. |
To
send text messages to you about your library materials and requests. |
|
Borrowing History |
OPTIONAL.
You may opt to keep your Reading History when you register for a library
card, or any time afterwards. |
For
your convenience. |
|
Fine History |
REQUIRED
|
For
record-keeping purposes. |
§ MCLINC
retains records of materials currently checked out; overdue materials until
returned; fines paid, unpaid, and waived; current interlibrary loans; and
outstanding holds requests. After a patron returns an item, the patron barcode
number is retained on that item until it is checked out again and
returned.
Patrons
give consent only to the collection of the data listed above when they register
for a library card. MCLINC does not collect or retain your personally
identifiable information without your consent.
MCLINC
will not give, sell or license your 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. For administrative purposes, MCLINC may share
information with specific third-party vendors of library services, such as
those managing the library’s databases or electronic collections. Only MCLINC-authorized
employees have access to your personally identifying information, and they may
not use it except for library-related work.
Do
not let others use your library card or account. If you allow others to use
your card or account, you have consented to share your data with that person.
If a library card is lost or stolen, you must report this immediately to your
library so that the lost or stolen card may be invalidated.
You
may opt to have your library account linked with another individual, such as a
member of your family, or parent and child. To link adult accounts, both
parties need to be present with their library cards or IDs, and both parties
must sign a Linked Accounts agreement.
Personally
identifiable information will not be on any public circulation records. All
notices for lost, overdue or reserved items will be sent in a sealed envelope
to your physical address and/or to your personal email address.
Requests for
information about materials associated with a patron account should be directed
to the patron’s local library. MCLINC
cannot answer requests for any patron account information.
Public
computers are ‘wiped’ clean of data between sessions.
Parents
and legal guardians must assume responsibility for their children’s use of the
Internet on library computers, as with other library materials. Library staff
does not act in the place of a parent to determine which internet materials are
appropriate for an individual child.
The
MCLINC website uses HTTPS which stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure.
This is a way to securely send and receive information over the internet. All
communications between your computer and the library website are encrypted and
private.
Internet
cookies are small pieces of data that websites store on your computer when you
visit them. You can refuse to accept cookies, disable cookies, and remove
cookies from your hard drive. However, this may result in a lack of access to
some library services.
To use your library’s
Wi-Fi while on premises, patrons are required to accept the Wi-Fi Terms of
Service. The only information available to the library
is the amount of data used. MCLINC collects the internet address of equipment
connected to our Wi-Fi but collects no data on the content of searching.
MCLINC
maintains a network firewall to protect the integrity of the network. Antivirus
software is on all public and staff computers throughout MCLINC and is updated
regularly.
MCLINC
has chosen to comply with the filtering provisions of the Children’s Internet
Protection Act (CIPA). All public computers and devices are filtered. When
using the internet through your library’s Wi-Fi access, Internet access is
filtered.
MCLINC
is aware that generative artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to analyze
data, including images, statistics, speech, and other complex data types. While
generative AI may be used by staff members for small administrative tasks,
staff members do not give any AI access to personally identifying patron
information.
All
patron data is stored within MCLINC’s integrated library system, Polaris,
including name, library card number and PIN.
MCLINC
will not share this data with any other 3rd party.
MCLINC will not
share library records with any government agency without a valid court order (24 Pa.C.S. 9375).
This
policy will be reviewed every two years to make sure it is updated
appropriately to reflect emerging technologies.
Approved by the MCLINC Board of
Directors on 10/17/2025.