Global Librarian is committed to protecting your privacy and the privacy of children and teens. We use the information you input to www.globallibrarian.info to provide answers to users' reference inquiries online. Please read on for more details about the Global Librarian's privacy statement.

Controllers of personal information

Any personal information provided to or gathered by Globallibrarian.info is controlled primarily by Vaughan Public Libraries, 900 Clark Avenue West, Thornhill, Ontario, Canada, L4J 8C1, and secondly by Southampton City Council, Civic Centre, Southampton, UK, SO14 7LX, Surrey Public Library, nd Avenue, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, V3W 2P4, and Eastern Regional Libraries, Rear 511 Burwood Hwy, Wantirna, Australia VIC 3152.

What information do we collect? How do we use it?

When you ask a question on Global Librarian we ask for information such as your question, name, e-mail address, telephone number, branch location, library system, country, and whether or not a librarian can contact you by telephone (http://www.globallibrarian.info/ask.php). This allows us to process and fulfil your request for information, and provides us information about the countries where questions originate.

We also ask you whether you have asked the Global Librarian a question before. This allows us to see how many new users we are attracting and whether we have users who regularly use the service.

We maintain this information in a database until your question is answered. To track and monitor answers to inquiries, questions and personally identifying information will be in a database for a period of at least one month. This database is only accessible by designated employees of the Vaughan Public Library Board, Southampton City Council, Surrey Public Library, and Eastern Regional Libraries.

Information is only accessible to Vaughan Public Libraries, Southampton City Council, Surrey Public Library, and Eastern Regional Libraries.

How do we protect your information?

The information you have sent to Global Librarian is gathered and protected according to the Ontario Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, UK Data Protection Legislation, the British Columbia Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, and the Australian Privacy Act 1988, the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000, and the Victorian Information Privacy Act 2001.

Security measures have been put in place to protect your information and your information will not be shared with any outside party.

How do we protect children and teens information?

When a child or teen asks a question through the specialized form designed for children and teens (http://www.globallibrarian.info/kids_teens_ask.php) we only need to know their e-mail address, local branch, and age. This allows us to find age appropriate information and return it in a timely manner. Knowing the library branch, enables us to direct the child or teen to specific books and resources available at his or her local branch. Parents may include their e-mail address with the submitted question so they can receive a copy of the response from a library staff member. This way parents or guardians can be sure the communication taking place between their children and teens are safe.

Questions and answers are retained for a minimum of 1 month. At the end of each month, all questions and answers are reviewed for content. Some questions and answers will be selected for inclusion in the archive. Questions selected for inclusion in the archive will have all personally identifiable information removed (e.g. only the question, answer, reading level, and local branch is retained in the archive for selected records). The archive is only accessible by designated employees of Vaughan Public Libraries, Southampton City Council, Surrey Public Library, and Eastern Regional Libraries and is expected to help partners to provide answers to questions that may be asked more than once by different users.

What about "cookies"?

We do not use cookies.

Will globallibrarian.info disclose the information it collects to outside parties?

Globallibrarian.info does not sell, trade, rent, or make your personal information available to others in any other way.

Surrey Public Library, Southampton City Council, Vaughan Public Library Board, and Eastern Regional Libraries employ staff to answer inquiries, send postal mail and e-mails, make phone calls, and analyse data. Such staff will have access to personal information needed to perform these functions, but may not use it for any other purpose.

In Summary

We are committed to protecting your privacy. We use the information we collect on the site to meet your information needs. We do not sell, trade, rent, or make your personal information available to others in any other way.

Your Consent

By submitting inquiries on our Web site, each user consents to the collection and use of this information by Globallibrarian.info. If our privacy statement changes, we will post those changes on this page so that you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances we disclose it.