Wilmington Memorial Privacy Policy

The Merrimack Valley Library Consortium (MVLC) is committed to protecting the privacy of patrons’ personal information as well as information regarding individual use of member libraries or their services. In accordance with Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 78 Section 7: “That part of the records of a public library which reveals the identity and intellectual pursuits of a person using such library shall not be a public record...” MVLC considers circulation and registration records identifying the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of library patrons, as well as the materials borrowed or accessed electronically, not to be part of the public record. The USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 (P.L. 107- 56) supersedes state law and expands the federal government's authority for access to library records and documents to protect against international terrorism and clandestine intelligence activities.

It also expands the authority of federal law enforcement agencies to track telephone and electronic communication, including any dialing, routing, addressing, or signaling information and the actual content of the communication. The information collected by MVLC is limited to what is believed be to be necessary or useful to conduct library business. Personal information such as name, address, phone number and email address are gathered for the purpose of identification and accountability for use of Library materials. MVLC doesn’t provide e-mail address to any third parties, except as necessary for provision of library services. Records of library use (i.e. amount of or titles of materials checked out and returned, items reserved, or services used) are maintained only for the purpose of statistics, unless otherwise authorized by the individual library user. The intellectual pursuits of individuals using library or Internet resources are considered confidential information regardless of the age of the borrower. Such records shall not be made available to any individual or agency except pursuant to such process, order, subpoena or warrant as may be authorized under the authority of, and pursuant to, federal, state, or local law relating to civil, criminal, or administrative discovery procedures or legislative investigative power.

MVLC keeps no permanent record of Internet sites visited by library patrons, the electronic databases accessed, or the searches performed by individual patrons. Library patrons should be aware that MVLC and other Massachusetts library organizations license commercial databases from a variety of vendors. MVLC will make every effort to restrict electronic database vendors from collecting and using identifying personal information of its library users, however it provides no guarantee that personal information will not be shared with third parties. MVLC counts the number of viewers of different web pages within the sites it hosts, using standard web server log files. This information is collected in order to improve the content offered on those sites and may be used to compile statistical reports. These logs do not include names, phone numbers, addresses, email addresses or other identifying personal information. Email messages sent to MVLC or a member library may be stored or forwarded to others within MVLC or to member library staff in order to respond to a request for information.

Approved by Membership 6.19.12 MVLC has appropriate security measures in place in our physical facilities to protect against the loss, misuse or alteration of information that MVLC has collected from you at our site. MVLC takes many measures to safeguard user information but cannot and does not guarantee that every task completed via its network is private. MVLC does not partner with or have special relationships with any ad server companies. MVLC cannot and does not guarantee that every task completed on PCs connected to its network is private. Individual MVLC libraries may have local Privacy Policies that may apply in addition to this consortium Policy.