Privacy & Records Confidentiality Policy
Highland Park Public Library
Prepared by Nancy Kranich; Updated by Mike Bobish & Sherry Johnson

The Library values your privacy. We do everything we can to protect and respect your personal
information, and to keep your library records confidential. The Library strives to collect the least
amount of personally identifiable information necessary to administer our services and avoid
creating unnecessary records. The Library does not share your personally identifiable
information with third parties unless served with a valid subpoena, national security letter, or
warrant to do so.
The Highland Park Public Library Privacy Policy explains your privacy & confidentiality rights,
the steps the Library takes to respect & protect your privacy when you use library resources, and
how we deal with personally identifiable information (PII) that we may collect from you. The
Library’s Code of Conduct and Video Surveillance policies, in conjunction with our Privacy
Policy, also serve to protect users’ privacy from needless intrusion.

I. Introduction
Privacy is essential to the exercise of free speech, free thought, and free association. The
Highland Park Public Library considers the right to privacy to be the right to open inquiry
without having the subject of one’s interest examined or scrutinized by others. Confidentiality
exists when a library is in possession of personally identifiable information about users and
keeps that information private on their behalf.
The courts have upheld the right to privacy based on the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution.
Library privacy and confidentiality policies are in compliance with applicable federal, state, and
local laws, including the New Jersey State Library Confidentiality Law: N.J. Stat. §
18A:73-43.2, which protects your library records from disclosure unless law enforcement officials
request access with a valid subpoena, national security letter, or warrant to do so.
Library user rights outlined here are based in part on what are known in the United States as the
five “Fair Information Practice Principles.” These five principles outline the rights of Notice,
Choice, Access, Security, and Enforcement.
Our commitment to your privacy and confidentiality has deep roots not only in law but also in
the ethics and practices of librarianship. In accordance with the American Library Association’s

Code of Ethics:
“We protect each library user’s right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to
information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired, or
transmitted.”

II. The Highland Park Public Library’s Commitment to Our Users’ Rights of Privacy &
Confidentiality
The Highland Park Public Library is committed to protecting user privacy when library resources
are used and personally identifiable information is collected.
As such, we protect each library user’s right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to
information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired, or transmitted.

1. Notice & Openness
The Highland Park Public Library informs users about the policies governing the amount and
retention of personally identifiable information and about why that information is necessary for
the provision of library services.
We post publicly the privacy and information-gathering policies of the Library on our website
and other places as appropriate. Whenever policies change, notice of those changes is
disseminated widely to our users.
The Highland Park Public Library gathers information about current and valid library users for
the sole purpose of providing library services. Where it is necessary for the Library to identify
users, it is our goal to gather only the minimum information necessary and to retain that
information for only as long as it is needed to complete a particular transaction. We avoid
creating unnecessary records and retaining records not needed for the fulfillment of the mission
of the Library. Furthermore, we do not engage in practices that might place personally
identifiable information in or on public view.

2. Choice & Consent
The Highland Park Public Library keeps all personally identifiable information confidential. We
will not share, sell, license, or disclose personal information to any third party without your
consent unless we are compelled to do so under the law or to comply with a court order.
The Library receives personally identifiable information directly from you to create and update
your library user account. User accounts contain your name, email / home mailing addresses, and
a telephone number. You have the option of providing a different email address for the purpose
of receiving notifications about library accounts.
When you borrow materials from the Highland Park Public Library, we scan the barcode on your
library card and then link your personally identifiable information to the items borrowed. We
retain information about items you check out, request, put on hold, and remain overdue. User
reading history is not maintained or stored unless opted in by the user.
When using any Library services or electronic subscriptions onsite or from an outside Internet
connection, you will need to provide your Library barcode and passcode.

Children’s privacy: The safety and privacy of children is very important to the Library. In
accordance with the Library’s Code of Conduct, the Library prohibits photography or the filming
of minors without parental consent. And, as with all other users, personal electronic information
collected from children by the Library is not shared with any non-contracted agency or vendor.
We encourage parents to take an active role in their children’s internet use and teach them about
the importance of not revealing personal information online.

3. Access by Users
Account information can be accessed through our library website or the STELLA Libraries app
by logging into your account with your library barcode number and passcode. You can also show
any consortium library staff your library card, your library barcode image in the STELLA
Libraries app, or your barcode in another 3rd party app, along with your government-issued
photo ID that includes your current Highland Park address.
To ensure that Library operations function properly, your personally identifiable information will
be updated every three years by library staff or by you when your personal information changes.

4. Data Integrity & Security
Data Integrity: The Highland Park Public Library is committed to collecting and maintaining
accurate and secure data. We strive to assure data integrity by using only reputable data sources,
providing you access to your library account, updating data whenever possible, utilizing
middleware authentication systems that authorize use without requiring personally identifiable
information, destroying untimely data, or converting it to anonymous form.
Data Retention: We protect personally identifiable information from unauthorized disclosure.
Once it is no longer needed to manage library services, we regularly purge, shred, or anonymize
personally identifiable information about library users, library resource use, material circulation
history, and security / surveillance tapes & logs. In addition, the Highland Park Public Library
fully complies with the STELLA Libraries policies on Patron Data Retention, Confidentiality,
and Privacy. The Library can provide users with copies of these policies upon request.

Tracking Users: Our Library has invested in appropriate technology to protect the security of any
personally identifiable information while it is in the Library’s custody, and we ensure that
aggregate, summary data is stripped of personally identifiable information. We do not ask library
visitors or website users to identify themselves or reveal any personal information unless they are
borrowing materials; requesting special services; registering for services, programs, or classes; or
making remote use from outside the library of those portions of the library website restricted to
registered borrowers under license agreements or other special arrangements. We discourage
users from choosing passwords that could reveal their identity, including social security numbers.
We remove cookies, web history, cached files, or other computer & Internet use records and
other software code that is placed on our public computers or networks after each use. We
remove links between user records and materials borrowed as soon as practicable, and we delete
records as soon as the purpose for data collection has been satisfied.

Third Party Security: The Highland Park Public Library uses and links to resources owned and
operated by third parties, including integrated library systems, offsite computer services,
databases, and electronic journals. We license these resources for the use of Highland Park
Public Library authorized users. We make every attempt to include user privacy protections in
license agreements with third parties, such as vendors of digital information resources like
electronic databases and journals. Nevertheless, because the use of these websites and resources
is not governed by the Highland Park Public Library, we strongly recommend that you review
the privacy policies of the websites that you visit. When connecting to licensed resources outside
the library, we authenticate users as members of our community and do not provide any
personally identifiable information.

Cookies: Our Library avoids the use of cookies to verify information about our users. However,
our catalog and some of our licensed resources require the temporary enabling of cookies. For
searches conducted on your computer, you can refuse to accept or disable cookies and remove
them from your hard drive. The Highland Park Public Library erases cookies from public library
computers after you close the browser at the end of your session.

Website Security (HTTPS): The library’s website is encrypted with HTTPS. All communications
between your browser and the library website are private. Your account and catalog searching is
also encrypted.

Staff access to personal data: We permit only authorized Library staff with assigned confidential
passwords to access personal data stored in the Library’s Polaris computer system for the
purpose of performing library work. We will not disclose any personal data we collect from you
to any other party except where required by law. The Library does not sell or lease users’
personal information to companies, organizations, or individuals.

5. Enforcement & Redress
Our Library will not share data on individuals with third parties unless required by law. Library
users who have questions, concerns, or complaints about our handling of their privacy and
confidentiality rights should file written comments with the Library Director. We will respond in
a timely manner and may conduct a privacy investigation or review of policy and procedures.
All Library staff and volunteers refer law enforcement inquiries to Library administrators. We
confer with our Legal Counsel before determining the proper response. We will not make library
records available to any agency of state, federal, or local government unless a subpoena, warrant,
court order or other investigatory document is issued by a court of competent jurisdiction that
shows good cause and is in proper form.

Adopted September 29, 2025