Privacy Statement
Adopted April 27, 2016
Confidentiality of information
Each of the Northern New Hampshire Library Cooperative (NNHLC) member libraries has a Confidentiality of Information policy that pledges to protect the privacy of library records. These policies all include the following statements (or close equivalents):
- Library circulation records and other records identifying the names of library users are confidential. The library staff and volunteers must protect each patron’s right to privacy with respect to information sought or received, and materials consulted, borrowed, or acquired.
- Library records shall not be made available to any agency of local, state, or federal government except pursuant to such process, order, or subpoena as may be authorized under the authority of, and pursuant to, local, state, or federal law.
In addition, NNHLC has a Confidentiality Policy specifically pertaining to patron information that can be accessed by all cooperative libraries, adopted on April 7, 2014.
Confidentiality Policy:
All library staff & volunteers shall sign a confidentiality agreement form stating that patron information shall not be communicated to others by casual conversation or careless treatment of records.
RSA 201-D:11 requires that library circulation records and other records identifying the names of the library users with specific materials are confidential, including records shared by the Northern NH Library Cooperative. Trustees or staff shall not make these records available to any agency of the state, federal or local government without a subpoena or court order and the agreement of the library director, and after review by legal counsel.
Security measures
NNHLC has contracted with ByWater Solutions to provide hosting and support for Koha, the open source software we use for our integrated library system, or library management system. This system is web-based, and is accessed online.
ByWater Solutions has installed NNHLC’s Koha software on servers that are cloud-based Virtual Machines. Backups are performed to on-site and off-site servers managed by ByWater. Access to these servers is encrypted and limited to Bywater staff only.
In addition, in 2016 we purchased and installed SSL (secured sockets layer) certificates on ByWater Solution’s webservers for all websites used to access the NNHLC system: https://staff.nnhlc.bywatersolutions.com, https://cook.nnhlc.bywatersolutions.com, https://jackson.nnhlc.bywatersolutions.com, and https://jackson.nnhlc.bywatersolutions.com. NNHLC will renew these certificates when they expire. SSL provides an encrypted connection between an internet browser and a webserver.
Retention of records
NNHLC has enabled the setting in Koha that allows patrons/borrowers to choose how long their borrowing history is kept in their online account. There are three options: 1. to retain borrowing history indefinitely, 2. to retain borrowing history for the length of time determined by NNHLC, 3. never to retain borrowing history. NNHLC has set one month as the default borrowing history retention period (option 2, above).
In addition, NNHLC has determined that keeping system logs for one year for all borrowing activity allows library staff to track down missing items. For example, when a book is returned damaged, or a case is returned without a disc, it is important that library staff be able to contact the most recent borrower or, in some cases, previous borrowers. Borrowing records will be anonymized in system logs after one month. Borrowing records for patrons that choose to retain their borrowing history indefinitely (option 1, listed above) in Koha will remain available to them individually.
Supporting Documents
Madison Library’s Policy of Use and Confidentiality of Information: http://madisonlibrary-nh.org/WP/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/UseandConfidentiality.pdf
Cook Memorial Library’s Confidentiality of Library Records Policy: http://tamworthlibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/IV-B-Confidentiality.pdf
Jackson Public Library’s policy
ByWater Solutions Server and Backup Plan: http://madisonlibrary-nh.org/nnhlc/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/ByWater-Backup-and-Security.pdf