Milner Library respects your privacy. In addition to the Illinois State University Privacy Statement, Milner Library has developed its own privacy statement as an extension to better inform you of what data we collect, how we use it, and which policies, laws, and professional best practices inform our approach to privacy and data security.
If you have any questions about library data privacy, please contact us.
Milner Library is committed to the American Library Association Code of Ethics and Library Bill of Rights. We do not publish or grant unauthorized access to Personally Identifiable Information ("PII") information such as records for registration, circulation, or resources viewed containing personal or private information protected by federal or state law including but not limited to: the Library Records Confidentiality Act (75 ILCS 70), Illinois Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140/7.5), and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act ("FERPA" 20 UCS 1232g) . Information may be required to be made available by law or appropriate law enforcement procedures.
Milner Library complies with Illinois State University Policy and Procedures in addition to state and federal laws and regulations. Our procedures and processes for classifying, handling, and securing sensitive data are determined by Illinois State University 9.8 Policies regarding information technology security. We also follow and comply with Illinois State University 9.5.5 Policy on Procedures for University Web Privacy Notice and Practices.
Data is created and collected each time you use certain Milner Library resources, services, technologies, and websites. We collect and use this data to provide library services including the following:
Milner Library stores and collects PII to provide core library operations like checking out books, servicing requests for materials through Interlibrary Loan, and providing access to electronic resources in our catalog. Examples of this data are first and last name, University email address, University Login ID (ULID), University ID Number (UID), university affiliation, and currently loaned items.
We use Alma, hosted by Ex Libris and contracted for use by the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois, as our primary Unified Library Systems Platform solution. We also use Tipasa, hosted by OCLC, to provide Interlibrary Loan Services. For more information, refer to the Ex Libris Privacy Policy and OCLC Privacy Policy.
Only authorized employees, based on their role and responsibilities, of Milner Library have access to the portions of data stored within Alma and Tipasa library software systems. Anonymized circulation records are securely stored and used for ongoing collection management and service improvement.
Milner Library utilizes applications and services for operations that retrieve, collect, and store personal data from systems that are provided, maintained, and secured centrally for the university by the Office of Technology Solutions. The major applications include Office 365, Formstack, Qualtrics, Labstats, OMNI CMS, and Google Analytics. Milner Library may share de-identified or aggregate data with authorized employees within the university in contribution to a variety of different initiatives such as student success, assessment, and service improvement initiatives. For more information on the privacy policies of these applications contact the Office of Technology Solutions.
The computers and laptops Milner Library provides for patron use utilize Labstats to track usage statistics. Data collected within this system includes University Login ID, login history, session time, and application usage. This data is used to inform Milner operations, including guiding future purchases or equipment, and is only available to authorized Illinois State University staff.
As described in the Illinois State University Privacy Statement, Illinois State University and Milner Library use third-party services to provide certain library solutions or to collect information for the assessment and improvement of operations.
Those services include but are not limited to:
Electronic resources purchased by Milner Library are hosted by third-party vendors that have their own policies regarding data privacy and collection. Milner Library utilizes aggregate, deidentified usage statistics from these services to review and assess resource utilization and inform future electronic resource collection development. For more information, refer to the specific resource provider's privacy policy.
Milner Library utilizes OpenAthens to provide access to the electronic resource providers that are purchased from and hosted by third-party vendors. Data collected when you access a resource controlled by OpenAthens includes first name, last name, ULID, ISU email address, university affiliation (more information here), employee department, student program, major, degree type, and class standing, and resource vendor. OpenAthens does not have access to or store information about the specific resource being accessed from that vendor. For more information, refer to the OpenAthens Privacy Policy.
Milner Library websites and web services utilize Google Analytics, which is managed and provided for all campus areas by the Office of Technology Solutions. When you visit Milner Library websites, Google Analytics collects PII usage statistics that we use to review and assess website engagement and activity. For more information, refer to the Google Privacy Policy.
Milner Library utilizes the Springshare application platform to provide web-based chat assistance, library hours, FAQ knowledgebase, and research guides on our website. For more information, refer to the Springshare Privacy Policy.
Milner Library provides access to the majority of our digital collections through CONTENTdm, hosted by OCLC. For more information, refer to the OCLC Privacy Policy.
Milner Library's Special Collections and the Dr. Jo Ann Rayfield Archives use ArchivesSpace to search for materials in their collections, hosted by Lyrasis. For more information, refer to the Lyrasis Privacy Policy..
We would note that you should carefully consider setting up personal accounts on third party resources such as "My Research" or "My Folders," or other accounts with publishers that require you to provide personally identifying information. Milner Library does not have control over access to these accounts or the use of the information you provide there.
Reviewed by the Office of General Counsel, December 2021
Approved by Library Council, January 2022