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Blackwater > About > Policies > Confidentiality

Confidentiality Policy

It is the policy of this Library to comply with all Constitutional judicial processes while preserving patron confidentiality to the extent allowed by law. In compliance with the USA Patriot Act the staff of the Blackwater Regional Library will respond accordingly to a court order, subpoena, or search warrant. In such cases the staff will notify the Director who will call the County Attorney.

In order to safeguard the privacy and rights of individual patrons, all records which are required in controlling the use of books, or other informational materials, either on or off the library premises are considered confidential in nature. The Library shall make every reasonable and responsible effort to see that information about an individual patron and his/her choices of library material remains confidential as outlined in Chapter 26 of the Privacy of Information Act of 1976.

The Blackwater Regional Library adheres to the following guidelines concerning the disclosure of information about library patrons. No information is to be released regarding or including:

• A user’s name (or whether an individual is a registered borrower or has been a user)
• A user’s address
• A user’s telephone number
• The Library’s circulation records and their contents as pertain to individual users.
• The Library’s borrowers records and their contents.
• The number or character of questions asked by a user.
• The frequency or content of a user’s visits to the Library or any other information supplied to, or gathered by, the Library shall not be given, made available, or disclosed to any individual, corporation, institution, government agent or agency without valid process, court order, subpoena, or search warrant.
  

Upon receipt of any process, order, subpoena, or search warrant, the Library Director shall consult with legal counsel to determine if such process, court order, subpoena or search warrant is proper and in full compliance with proper legal authority.

Any problems or conditions relating to the privacy of a patron through the records of the Library which are not provided for in the policy statement shall be referred to the Board of Trustees and/or legal counsel who will issue a written decision as to whether to heed the request for information.