Privacy Policy

(Adopted by the Library Board of Trustees on December 5, 2002, Revised on October 2, 2003)

Your Right to Privacy

The Mill Valley Public Library recognizes the need to protect your right to privacy regarding the questions you ask and the materials you borrow.

Confidentiality of Library Records

Public Records Act, California Government Code Section 6267 mandates confidentiality of your registration and borrowing records. These records include any information that a Library requires a Library user to provide in order to become eligible to borrow books and other materials, and any information which identifies the Library user borrowing particular books and other material. All Library records relating to an individual Library user's use of the Library and its resources are confidential. These records may be consulted and used by Library staff in the course of carrying out Library operations, but will not be disclosed to others except upon the request or consent of the Library user, or pursuant to subpoena, court order or otherwise required by law.

As a public institution the Library is legally obligated to comply with the information request requirements of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act, commonly known as the USA Patriot Act, enacted on October 26, 2001.

About Privacy at the Library

Our Commitment to Privacy

Protecting your privacy is important to us. This notice explains our information practices, what information the Library collects, and how the Library uses that information.

The Information We Collect

This information applies to all information collected or submitted to the Mill Valley Public Library in person or on the website. On some web pages you can make requests, make comments, register for programs and reserve a computer to use the Internet. The types of personal information collected are:

Name
Address
Email address
Phone number
Library card number
Date/year of birth (card registration only)
Materials currently checked out
Last Patron to checkout an item (kept for 3 months)
Overdue materials (until returned)
Fines paid or waived (kept for 6 months)

How We Use Your Information

We do not share information collected with outside parties. We use return email addresses to answer the email we receive, to send notification of overdue materials, and to inform customers of Library events. Mailing addresses are used for overdue notices and to inform about Library events. For reserving a computer we use name and barcode number, kept until the reservation is used or cancelled (up to 7 days) and to show workstation usage (up to 24 hours).

Internet Privacy

When you visit the Library's website we collect and store only information to measure the number of visitors to different areas of our site to assist us in making our site more useful to you. This information includes:

The address (IP) of your computer or Internet provider
The date and time you accessed our site
The Internet address of the website that referred you to our site

In accordance with Library Confidentiality Policy, we will not sell, lease, or otherwise distribute or disclose your email address, phone number, borrower records, or other personal information for non-Library purposes to outside parties unless required by law.

The Library's website uses "cookies" to allow you access to certain functions (such as the on-line catalog and electronic resources, etc) within our site. These cookie files do not capture any personal user information (such as email address or user passwords). Temporary cookie files are automatically deleted when you close your browser.

Some of the Library websites/pages contain links to external sites not maintained by the Library. The Library cannot be responsible for your privacy when you disclose information to outside websites. It is your responsibility to protect your personal information.

Our Commitment to Children's Privacy

Protecting the privacy of children is especially important to us. We attempt to minimize exposure of children's personal information when possible by using children's first names only when promoting events on and off our website. We are also prudent in our use of children's email information; using it to promote specific children's programs, and being careful not to display email addresses in broadcast lists. Due to the ease with which children can divulge personal information on the Internet as well as the possibility of inadvertently bringing up inappropriate sites, we urge parents to supervise their children's use of the Internet. Information collected by the Mill Valley Public Library is not shared with any other agency or organization.