Library Service: privacy policy

St Helens Library Service privacy policy explains how we use personal information we collect about you when you join and use the library, our online catalogue, our other online services or our public computers.

What information do we collect about you?

We collect information about you when you:

Register with us
Borrow or place a request for library stock items or services (for example when you use our public Internet Access service)
Contact us
Apply to volunteer with us
Visit the Archive Service or deposit archive material

We also collect information when you voluntarily complete customer surveys, provide feedback and participate in competitions. Our online library catalogue (website) usage information is collected using cookies.

How will we use the information about you?

We collect information about you to process your stock or service requests, manage your account and if you agree, to email you about events, activities and library services we think may be of interest to you. We use the information collected to personalise repeat visits to the library catalogue.

Your personal information is not passed to any of our eService partners (for example eBooks, eMagazines etc) for marketing purposes. However, if you agree, we will share your details with St Helens Arts, St Helens Adult and Community Learning and other council partners so that they may contact you about their services. We request date of birth information because we provide age-restricted items.

St Helens Library Service will not share your information for marketing or service information purposes with companies outside of St Helens Borough Council. In processing your eService requests, we may need to send your Membership ID (your membership number) to eService partners to complete the delivery process.

Marketing

We would like to send you information about events and services of ours and other council partners in our group which may be of interest to you. If you have consented to receive marketing, you may opt out at a later date.

You have a right at any time to stop us from contacting you for marketing purposes or giving your information to other members of our group. If you no longer wish to be contacted for marketing purposes, please contact us. Full contact details can be found at the foot of this document.

Access to your information and correction

You have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you. If you would like a copy of some or all of your personal information, please email or write to us. There may be a small admin charge for this service. We want to make sure that your personal information is accurate and up to date. You may ask us to correct or remove information you think is inaccurate.

Payment processing

When processing payments all receipts are provided to the council income section for accounting purposes. If you pay by card, although the receipt will contain the last four digits of your card number; you will not be identifiable from this information.

Cookies

Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard Internet log information and visitor behaviour information. This information is used to track visitor use of the catalogue and to compile statistical reports on website activity.

You can set your browser not to accept cookies and the websites below tell you how to remove cookies from your browser. However, if you do this, in a few cases some of our catalogue features may not function as a result.

For further information about cookies, please visit www.aboutcookies.org.

Other websites

Our catalogue contains links to other websites. This privacy policy only applies to this website so when you link to other websites you should read their own privacy policies.

Changes to our privacy policy

We keep our privacy policy under regular review and we will place any updates on this webpage. This privacy policy was last updated on 14 October 2020.