Privacy Policy

Jacksonville Public Library is committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of customers at our library locations and on our website. Terms used in this policy statement include:

• Privacy is your right to seek information through Library resources without having the subject of your interest known or examined by others.
• Confidentiality exists when the Library possesses personally identifiable information about you and keeps that information private on your behalf.
• Personally identifiable information is information like your name, library card number, e-mail or mailing address, telephone number, or any financial information relating to your or your accounts that you may provide us.

In general, you have the right to know when any Library transaction creates a record of personally identifiable information and how such information is used and its confidentiality protected.

RELEVANT LAWS

• USA PATRIOT Act (Public Law 107-56):
  Although the Library makes every effort to protect your privacy through compliance with state law and through local practice, under the federal USA PATRIOT Act records of your library activities (including materials you borrow and your computer workstation usage) may be obtained by federal agents. That federal law prohibits Library staff from informing you or anyone else if federal agents have obtained records about you. Additional information is available from the American Library Association webpage "The USA Patriot Act in the Library."
  
  
• Confidentiality of Registration and Circulation Records — Florida Statutes Section 257.261:
  1. All registration and circulation records of every public library, except statistical reports of registration and circulation, are confidential and exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1) and from s. 24(a) of Art. I of the State Constitution.
  2. As used in this section, the term "registration records" includes any information that a library requires a customer to provide in order to become eligible to borrow books and other materials, and the term "circulation records" includes all information that identifies the Customers who borrow particular books and other materials.
  3. (a) Except in accordance with a proper judicial order, a person may not make known in any manner any information contained in records made confidential and exempt by this section, except as otherwise provided in this section.
     (b) A library or any business operating jointly with the library may, only for the purpose of collecting fines or recovering overdue books, documents, films, or other items or materials owned or otherwise belonging to the library, disclose information made confidential and exempt by this section to the following:
     1. The library patron named in the records;
     2. In the case of a library customer less than 16 years of age, the parent or guardian of that customer named in the records;
     3. Any entity that collects fines on behalf of a library, unless the customer is less than 16 years of age, in which case only information identifying the customer 's parent or guardian may be released;
     4. Municipal or county law enforcement officials, unless the customer is 16 years of age, in which case only information identifying the customer 's parent or guardian may be released; or
     5. Judicial officials.
  4. Any person who violates this section commits a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.

LEGAL PROTECTIONS & EXCEPTIONS

Privacy of library registration and circulation records is protected under Florida Statutes Section 257.261, above. This information is used when you choose to request or borrow materials or services, or to authenticate eligibility for access to Library public access computers. The Library is committed to only permitting authorized staff to see personally identifiable information stored in the Library's files and computer systems.

Some of your personally identifiable information may not remain confidential if fines, charges, or fee transactions must be forwarded to an agency for collection, or if the Library is processing your request for items or services from another library or provider. The Library does not give, share, sell or transfer any personally identifiable information to third parties except with your specific consent, to conduct Library business, or unless required to do so by law. (See USA PATRIOT Act, above.)

CUSTOMER INFORMATION COLLECTED

When you choose to provide personally identifiable information to us in order to conduct a library transaction, we collect only the minimum amount of personal information required to process your request. Elements of this information, with the personal links stripped out, may be used to develop internal statistical reports. Examples of personally identifiable information which may be required to process a Library transaction include:

• Name
• Mailing address
• Telephone number
• Birthdate
• Library card number
• Email address (optional)
• Drivers License Number (optional)

Login information for access to library computers is deleted from our records after one day. We keep non-personal information about logins and website visits for statistical analysis and other management purposes. Logs of site visits and of customer-created documents are automatically deleted every time a computer reboots, and the logs are also purged nightly.

LIBRARY WEBSITE

The Library website is governed by this Privacy Policy and our Internet Use Policy. We collect non-personal information from visitors to the website for statistical analysis, site assessment, server performance, troubleshooting and other management purposes. There is no inherent link to personally identifiable information in computer communications, unless you have provided that information in the content of your transaction. Examples of non-personal information collected include:

• Internet Protocol (IP) address (like an Internet “phone number”) of your computer
• type and version of browser and operating system your computer uses
• domain name (.com, .net, .edu, etc.) of the Internet service provider or website from which you linked to our site
• geographical location of the network used to link to us, and time and date of access

EXTERNAL WEBSITE LINKS

Our website contains links to external websites and licensed databases. The Library is not responsible for the privacy practices, security or content of these external sites. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with the privacy and security information for any site you visit.

SECURITY

Since the Library uses standard systems and communication methods beyond its direct control, no guarantee can be made that transactions over the Internet or the local network, by mail or e-mail, by telephone or at a public service desk are secure and confidential. While care is exercised to protect its systems and servers from unauthorized access, the Library may be vulnerable to temporary breaches of security. You must choose the method you wish to communicate your requests and personally identifiable information to us.

We recommend that you take these additional precautions:

• Log off systems after use
• Don't share user IDs or passwords
• Select passwords which are easy for you to remember, but difficult for others to guess

FEEDBACK

If you have questions or concerns about this privacy statement or the practices of the Library, please feel free to contact us.