The University of Washington Libraries values the privacy of library users. The Libraries seeks to minimize the collection and retention of personally identifiable information. Information that is retained is required for the management of library operations. To maintain the privacy of these records the Libraries has put in place procedures to safeguard personal information.
Federal law, state law and local policies govern the privacy of library records. The Libraries may release information to law enforcement agents in response to a search warrant, subpoena or other lawful directive. All requests for personally identifiable information will be reviewed by the Attorney General’s Office.
Commercial Use of Information
No personal information maintained by the Libraries is sold to third parties.
Web Use
These policies relate to web pages in the "lib.washington.edu" and
"healthlinks.washington.edu" domains. The Libraries does not maintain
any personally identifiable information about site use other than proxy server
logs maintained to analyze user access problems. We also maintain server logs
that contain aggregate information about use of the site.
Circulation Records
The circulation database contains information needed to manage the loaning of library material. There is no
active record linking a user to library material after the book has been returned unless charges have been levied.
Circulation data may reside on secure system backup files for a short period of time. The Libraries may provide
information to third parties under contract to the University in order to obtain payment of fees or return of library materials.
General Request for Services or Information
Responses to information and reference questions may reside on secure servers
for a period of time.
Fee-based services
Information is maintained in order to respond to user requests and to manage billing. The Libraries may
provide information to third parties working for us to obtain payment of fees or return of library materials.
Cookies
The Libraries uses temporary cookies to track session characteristics on the
Information Gateway and the Web Catalog. No personally identifiable information
is received or kept and no persistent cookies are placed on users' computers.
Email
When contacting library staff users should be aware that email messages are
subject to public disclosure laws and may be obtained as a public record.
Links to Other Sites
The Libraries’ web sites contain many links to other sites, including databases and electronic journals that
the Libraries have licensed for the use of University of Washington faculty, students and staff. Users should be
aware that these sites have their own privacy polices that may be different from the UW Libraries policy.
Contacting Us
For more information about our privacy policies please contact Thom Deardorff,
Coordinator for Access Services at tdeardor@u.washington.edu.
Contact Us