Privacy Policy

Welcome to Library Stack. We are committed to protecting your personal information and your right to privacy. This policy describes how Library Stack collects and uses your information when you use and interact with our website, and what rights you have in relation to that information, and applies to all persons who use our Services (“Users”) through https://www.librarystack.org (the “Website”). This policy complies with the privacy guidelines of the American Library Association and the legal framework of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation. Please read through it carefully. If there are any terms in this privacy policy that you do not agree with, please discontinue use of our site and our services. If you have any questions or concerns about our policy, please contact us.

What information do we collect?

Library Stack collects data about you and your use of the Library Stack website (“Personal Data”) that you provide (as when you make an account, sign up for our mailing list, or post comments on Bookshelf collections) and that our system automatically collects through your access, use, or interaction with the Library Stack website.

Personal information you disclose to us. We collect personal information that you provide upon registering an account (including name, email contact information, password) or using the Bookshelf system. We use this information to provide authentication and account access, as well as to improve Library Stack services.
Information automatically collected. Some information – such as IP address and/or browser and device characteristics – is collected automatically when you visit, use or navigate our website. This information does not reveal your specific identity (like your name or contact information) but may include device and usage information, such as your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, location, information about how and when you use our Site and other technical information. We may automatically collect device information (such as your mobile device ID, model and manufacturer), operating system, version information and IP address. This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our Site, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes. LS processes Personal Data collected through the Services on the lawful basis of legitimate interests to provide the Services to you.

How do we use your information?

Site usage data is intrinsically anonymized, and is neither rented to, nor shared with, any commercial third parties. Information is kept securely and used only for our legitimate business interests, the fulfillment of our contracts with institutional library systems, and to remain in compliance with our legal obligations. The specific processing grounds we rely on are listed next to each purpose below:

To facilitate account creation and logon process (with your Consent).
To send you marketing and promotional communications (solely for our Business Purposes and with your Consent). You can opt-out of our marketing emails at any time (see the “Your Privacy Rights” below).
To send administrative information to you, such as new service or feature information, and/or information about changes to our terms, conditions, and policies.
To request feedback. We may use your information to request feedback and to contact you about your use of our Sites.
To protect our site for business and/or legal reasons, such as for fraud monitoring and prevention.
To enable user-to-user communications (with your consent). We may use your information in order to enable user-to-user communications with each user’s consent.
To enforce our terms, conditions and policies, or to respond to legal requests and prevent harm. If we receive a subpoena or other legal request, we may need to inspect the data we hold to determine how to respond.
To identify usage trends, determine the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns and to evaluate and improve our Sites, products, services, marketing and your experience.

Will your information be shared with anyone?

We share only fully anonymized user data with the appropriate academic, public or institutional libraries with which we have contractual relationships. User data of any kind is not shared with commercial third parties. We would otherwise share and disclose personal data in the following situations:

Where we are legally required to do so in order to comply with applicable law, governmental requests, a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process, such as in response to a court order or a subpoena (including in response to public authorities to meet national security or law enforcement requirements).
Vital Interests and Legal Rights. We may disclose your information where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding potential violations of our policies, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person and illegal activities, or as evidence in litigation in which we are involved.

PLEASE NOTE: personal information in the form of posting comments, contributions or other content to Library Stack (within the “Bookshelf Collection” site feature) may be visible to other site users. Please set the privacy settings on any Bookshelf Collection as you prefer: Private; Public; Visible by Other Users on Same Institutional Network; Visible to All Other Users.

Do we use cookies and other tracking technologies?

We may use cookies and similar tracking technologies (like web beacons and pixels) to collect, access or store information.

Is your information transferred internationally?

We may transfer, store, and process your information in countries other than your own. Our primary servers are located in The United States of America. If you are accessing our Site from elsewhere, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed by us in our facilities. If you are a resident in the European Economic Area, then your data is processed under laws less comprehensive than those in your country. We will however take all necessary measures to protect your personal information in accordance with this privacy policy and applicable law.

How long do we keep you information?

We only keep your personal information for as long as necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (such as tax, accounting or other legal requirements). No purpose in this policy will require us keeping your personal information for longer than 1 year past the termination of your account. When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete it, or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.

How do we keep your information safe?

We have implemented technical and organizational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process. Please however note that we cannot guarantee that the internet itself is 100% secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, transmission of personal information to and from our Sites is at your own risk. You should only access the services within a secure environment.

Do we collect information from minors?

No. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18 years of age. By using the Site, you represent that you are at least 18 or that you are the parent or guardian of such a minor and consent to such minor dependent’s use of the Site. If we learn that personal information from users less than 18 years of age has been collected, we will deactivate the account and take reasonable measures to promptly delete such data from our records. If you become aware of any data we have collected from children under age 18, please contact us at the email above.

What are your privacy rights?

You may review, change, or terminate your account at any time. Log into your account settings and update them, or contact us with a request to terminate your account. Upon such request, we will deactivate or delete your account and information from our active databases. Note that some information may be retained in our files to prevent fraud, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our Terms of Use and/or comply with legal requirements.
If we are relying on your consent to process your personal information, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Please note however that this will not affect the lawfulness of the processing before its withdrawal.
If you live in the European Economic Area, you have certain rights under applicable data protection laws. These may include the right (i) to request access and obtain a copy of your personal information, (ii) to request rectification or erasure; (iii) to restrict the processing of your personal information; and (iv) if applicable, to data portability. In certain circumstances, you may also have the right to object to the processing of your personal information. To make such a request, please use the email contact details below. We will consider and act upon any request to our fullest extent and in accordance with applicable data protection laws.
If you are a resident of California, you are granted specific rights regarding access to your personal information. California Civil Code Section 1798.83, also known as the “Shine The Light” law, permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us, once a year and free of charge, information about categories of personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request in writing to us using the contact information provided below. HOWEVER: Please note that we do not disclose the personal data of our users to any third parties (see “Will your information be shared with anyone?” above), making such a request functionally moot.
You can unsubscribe from our marketing email list at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the emails that we send or by contacting us using the details provided below. You will then be removed from the marketing email list – however, we will still need to send you service-related emails that are necessary for the administration and use of your account.

Do we update this policy?

Yes, from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by a “Revised” date and the updated version will be effective as soon as it is accessible. If we make material changes to this privacy policy, we may notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to review this privacy policy frequently to be informed of how we are protecting your information.

Questions, concerns?

Library Stack
770 Chapel St.
New Haven, CT 06510