Confidentiality of Library Records and Patron Privacy

Privacy and confidentiality are fundamental to the ethical practice of librarianship, and as such the Canton Public Library is committed to maintaining the confidentiality of its patrons and their borrowing activities to the fullest extent allowed by law.

Connecticut General Statutes Sec. 11-25 states that

“records maintained by libraries that can be used to identify any library user, or link any user to a library transaction, regardless of format, shall be kept confidential.”

In accordance with state statute, guidelines from the Connecticut State Library, and the American Library Association Code of Ethics, such records will not be made available to any person, organization, government agency, or other entity except pursuant to such process, order, or subpoena 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.

Law Enforcement Requests

The Library Director shall be responsible for handling any law enforcement requests to obtain any confidential information. Library staff shall immediately refer any law enforcement inquiries to the Library Director and shall not release any information until and unless authorized to do so by the Library Director or his/her duly appointed designee.

If the agent or officer requesting such information does not have a subpoena, warrant, court order or other authorized documentation compelling the production of the information, the Library Director shall explain the Library’s privacy policy and inform the agent or officer that the information is not available without production of a valid subpoena, warrant, court order or other authorized documentation. If the agent or officer does produce a valid subpoena, warrant, court order, or other authorized documentation, the Library Director shall immediately refer it to legal counsel for review and act upon the advice of said legal counsel.

Disclosure to outside parties

Under no circumstances shall library staff or volunteers provide information of any kind about an individual library user to any member of the public.

Further, the Canton Public Library does not sell or otherwise disseminate any contact information obtained from our patrons, including email addresses or phone numbers, to any other organizations or third parties.

Collection and use of contact information

The Canton Public Library collects e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and other contact information for the sole purpose of managing circulation: sending “almost due” notifications, overdue notices, bills, “hold available” notifications, etc. Patrons must “opt in” to other uses of contact information such as email newsletters.

Non-Library Websites

While we endeavor to maintain appropriate privacy and security practices on our own website, we cannot be responsible for the privacy and security of websites that we may link to.

Approved by the Canton Public Library Board of Trustees September 12, 2018