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WCCLS Privacy Statement

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Privacy Statement in Spanish / Declaración de privacidad en Español

Declaración de privacidad de los Servicios de Bibliotecas Cooperativas del Condado de Washington (PDF)

Our commitment to your privacy and confidentiality

WCCLS takes steps to protect the privacy and confidentiality of your library records and other personally identifiable information we collect. Our commitment to your privacy and confidentiality is based in the ethics of librarianship and protected by state law. According to the American Library Association Code of Ethics, “[w]e protect each library user's right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted.” In addition, state law (ORS 192.502(23)) protects your library records from disclosure if a member of the public or the media requests them. Library records include your circulation records, your name together with your address or telephone number, and your email address.

The information we collect

In order to provide library services, WCCLS needs to gather and retain information about library users, including but not limited to:

  • Records of library materials checked out, fines and fees owed, and payments made
  • Records of electronic access information, such as the library card number used to log onto public computers in the library
  • Requests for interlibrary loan, assistance with WCCLS’ digital services, or requests related to the Books by Mail program for the Homebound

By choosing to submit your name, email address, mailing address or phone number in order to receive library services (such as registering for a library card, receiving responses to requests for help, or being added to an email list), you are consenting to give us your personally identifiable information. We will keep this information confidential and will not sell, license or disclose it to any third party, except those parties WCCLS has contracted with, or except as required by law. For information about the ways third parties may use or disclose your information, see below.

WCCLS takes reasonable steps to ensure the security of your data. We protect personally identifiable information by digitally purging it, or manually shredding it, once it is no longer needed for library business purposes, pursuant to law. We have invested in appropriate technology to protect the security of personally identifiable information while it is in our custody. If you choose to receive library notices or other communication by email, text message, or voicemail, we are not able to control the privacy of that information once it has been sent.

Your responsibilities

Please notify your library immediately if your card is lost or stolen, or if you think someone is using your library card without your permission. When you get a library card, or create accounts with our third party vendor services, you should create unique passwords and protect them for your privacy and security. It is your responsibility to read the Privacy Policies and Terms of Use for our third party service vendors, and you may choose not to use them.

Law enforcement requests for library records

WCCLS acts in accordance with the American Library Association’s guidance that “Confidential library records should not be released or made available in any format to a federal agent, law enforcement officer, or other person unless a court order in proper form has been entered by a court of competent jurisdiction after a showing of good cause by the law enforcement agency or person seeking the records.” We avoid creating unnecessary records of library usage, and we avoid retaining records not needed for library business purposes. Library records may be subject to disclosure to law enforcement officials under provisions of state law, the USA PATRIOT Act, or in a civil lawsuit. Librarians may be forbidden from reporting to you that your records have been requested or obtained under provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act.

WCCLS confers with Washington County’s Office of County Counsel before determining the proper response to any request for confidential information. We will not make library records available to any agency of state, federal, or local government unless a subpoena, warrant, court order or other investigatory document is issued by a court of competent jurisdiction, showing good cause and in proper form.

Web privacy

WCCLS uses cookies to verify that you are an authorized user, in order to allow access to licensed resources, to customize web pages for your use, to help make our site more useful to visitors, and to learn about the number of visitors to our site and the types of technology our visitors use.

Some of the applications or external sites that you may link to from our pages, devices or equipment also use cookies. For more information on the use of cookies by each service, please refer to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policies for the services you use. You may set the preferences in your web browser to refuse cookies or to tell you when a cookie is being sent. This may result in an inability to access some library services.

Third party vendors

WCCLS contracts with third party vendors to provide some online services, digital collections, and to improve our website. As part of our contract review process, WCCLS makes efforts to ensure that the potential vendor policies reflect our policies and obligations concerning user privacy and confidentiality. We expect our vendors to abide by their contracts with us, including the privacy-related components of the contracts, as well as comply with the provisions of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). However, library users should know that when accessing remote or third party vendor sites, there are limits to the privacy protection WCCLS can provide.

When using these vendor-provided services, you may be asked to authenticate with their service and provide your WCCLS library card number and password/PIN. WCCLS makes efforts to ensure that vendors are receiving and transmitting this information securely, but WCCLS cannot ensure the privacy of these credentials when you use them with third parties.

When using these vendor-provided services, you may also be able to connect with social media networks, and other users of these third party services. If you choose to use these services, and in the course of providing service, third party vendors may gather and disclose your information, including:

  • Personally identifiable information you knowingly provide, including when you register for the service, provide feedback and suggestions, request information, or create shared content
  • Other information that could be used to identify you, such as your IP address, search history, location based data and device ID
  • Non-personally identifiable information, such as your ad views, analytics, browser type, cookie data, date/time of your request, demographic data, hardware/software type, interaction data, serving domains, pageviews and the web page you have visited immediately prior to visiting the site
  • Other data that third party services may collect as described in the vendor’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use

For more information on these third party services, and the specific types of data that may be gathered and disclosed by each service, please refer to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policies for the services you use. For your convenience, links to our major vendors’ policies are provided here. You may choose to not use these third party services if you do not accept their Terms of Use and Privacy Policies; please read them carefully.

Policies for our online catalog interfaces:

Policies for our digital library services:

Policies for our online research services:

Policies for services that help us provide online assistance and email communication:

Policies for the services we use to improve our website:

Policies for public library computer use, printing, and online fine payment:

Policy for our address update service:

Illegal activity is prohibited and not protected

Library users may conduct only legal activity while using library resources and services. Nothing in this policy prevents WCCLS from exercising our right to protect our facilities, network and equipment from harm, or prevent the use of WCCLS provided services or equipment for illegal purposes. The library can electronically log activity to monitor its public computers and external access to its network and reserves the right to review such logs when a violation of law or our policy is suspected. Staff is authorized to take immediate action to protect the security of library patrons, staff, facilities, computers and the network. This includes contacting law enforcement authorities and providing information that may identify the individual(s) suspected of a violation, or to report suspected child abuse under Oregon’s mandatory reporting law (ORS 419B).