Privacy Policy
Mass.gov/mblc (or mblc.state.ma.us) is the official web site of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, a state agency under the Executive Office of Administration and Finance. The establishment of the MBLC web site, under the Massachusetts Library and Information Network (MLIN), was authorized by Chapter 85 of the Acts of 1994.
Ensuring Your Privacy
The Board of Library Commissioners endeavors to protect your privacy to the maximum extent possible. Your use of library resources on this web site, including Access to Commercial Databases from Home or Office, the statewide Virtual Catalog, and library reference requests, or requests for subject information sent to the Board of Library Commissioners, will be treated with the same confidentiality as if the request had come to a public library.
That part of the records of a public library which reveals the identity and intellectual pursuits of a person using such library shall not be a public record as defined by clause Twenty-sixth of section seven of chapter four.
General Laws of Massachusetts Chapter 78, Section 7
Nevertheless, as a state agency, some information collected by the Board of Library Commissioners may be subject to disclosure to members of the general public under the General Laws of Massachusetts, Chapter 66, Section 10 , (Public Records).
Personally Identifiable Information. We use the term "personally identifiable information" to mean any information that could reasonably be used to identify you, including your name, address, e-mail address, Social Security number, birth date, bank account information, credit card information, or any combination of information that could be used to identify you.
Agency Compliance
The Board of Library Commissioners complies with the Fair Information Practices Act, General Laws of Massachusetts, Chapter 66A. The Board of Library Commissioners also complies with Executive Order 412 with respect to all personally identifiable information collected on the MBLC web site.
The Information That MBLC Gathers & How it is Used
The Board of Library Commissioners collects a minimal amount of information about users. The Board of Library Commissioners does not sell any information about its users. The Board of Library Commissioners does not offer web space to any third parties or advertisers that may independently track users.
The Board of Library Commissioners does not attempt to identify you or your computer by IP address (reverse name lookup) . The Board of Library Commissioners does not ask you to verify your identity, with the following two exceptions: 1) web site management functions that are restricted to authorized staff 2) authentication for access to commercial database products (see below).
Log Files
Standard log files generated by the MBLC web site include IP address, the date and time of a web page was requested, the request method ("GET" or "POST"), the page requested, and its size in bytes. Raw log files are kept indefinitely by the Board of Library Commissioners.
Our web logs do capture your browser's referrer page. This is the page that contained the link that leads you to the Board of Library Commissioners. Not all browsers carry this information. If you go directly to the MBLC web site without following a hyperlink from some other web page, no referrer information will be logged.
From these web logs, the Board of Library Commissioners provides only aggregated (anonymous) statistical usage reports to the library community through such publications as the MBLC Annual report, and other occasional articles. The MBLC will not attempt to match any personally identifiable information that you provide to us with your IP address, unless there are reasonable grounds to believe that doing so would provide information that is relevant and material to a criminal investigation.
Session Tracking and Session Cookies
The Board of Library Commissioners does not actively track users as they browse through the web site. Though the MBLC web site's statistical software can follow the path of a user through our Web site retrospectively (based on the users IP and the exact time that a web page was requested), such path analyses are not used by the Board of Library Commissioners.
The Board of Library Commissioners sets a session cookie for Access to Commercial Databases from Home or Office (see below). This cookie resides only in your computer's memory; it is not stored on your computer's hard disk. The cookie does not contain any personally identifiable information.
Persistent Cookies
Persistent cookies, or lines of information that are actually stored on your computer, are not used. No information is being cached in your cookie file, nor is the MBLC server retrieving cookies from your computer.
Persistent cookies are, however, used on certain library/institutional workstations to provide access to commercial database resources, such as the statewide contract for access to the Boston Globe. There is absolutely no personally identifiable information stored in this cookie. This technique is only used for libraries, schools and academic campuses that cannot be authenticated by IP address.
Access to Commercial Databases from Home or Office
Home and office access to a number of valuable commercial databases is provided to the residents of the Commonwealth through contracts between the Board of Library Commissioners or the six Massachusetts Regional Library Systems and database vendors, such as the Gale Info Trac databases.
In order to meet licensing requirements, the MBLC must ensure that you are a registered library user before you have access to these databases. The Board of Library Commissioners authenticates and authorizes you based on your library card number or your institutional library id. Once the MBLC has determined that you are a registered borrower of a library, college, or school that is a member of one of the six Massachusetts Regional Library Systems, you are forwarded to the commercial database resource.
An MBLC session management database retains your library card number and the time that you connected to Commercial databases. It does not record either the particular database that you use or the subject of your search. No other personally identifiable information is stored. The information stored in this session database is not used in any other way.
The MBLC remote access logs retain only enough information to identify the library/institution to which you belong and the time that you logged on. The Board of Library Commissioners does not pass on your library card/user id to the commercial database vendor servers. The Board of Library Commissionersdoes not obtain or retain any information about you that may be a part of the your library record on your home library system.
Mailing Lists
The Board of Library Commissioners hosts 16 mail distribution lists to facilitate communications among the various library communities in Massachusetts. Some of these lists are open to all users; others are restricted, and only administrators, or members of the list can post messages. If you send a message to one of these mailing lists, a copy of that message will be retained in the MBLC server indefinitely. In addition, the text of these messages can be publicly viewed at http://mblc.state.ma.us/cgi-bin/lwgate.
Contact Form
If you send us a message, either via email to info@mlin.lib.ma.us, or if you use our "Contact" web form, the message will be forwarded to the mailbox of a member of the Board of Library Commissioners staff. In the case of reference or information requests, your message may be forwarded to professional library staff, usually the Boston Public Library, which is the Statewide Reference and Referral Center. Your message may be retained. Reference inquiries will be treated as confidential under Chapter 78 sect. 7 of the General Laws of Massachusetts.
Changes
Changes to the Board of Library Commissioners web site Privacy Policy will be approved by the Director of the Board of Library Commissioners. Notice of changes will be posted to public library directors and member of the Massachusetts Regional Library systems by email distribution list at least thirty days before the change is to take effect.
Changes in this privacy policy will only affect information that is gathered on or after the official date of the change. Privacy of older information will continue to be maintained under the guidelines in effect when the data was gathered.
Contact
If you have any questions or concerns about the MBLC privacy policy, please contact:
Paul Kissman, Library Information Systems Specialist
Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners
98 North Washingon St., Suite 401
Boston, MA 02114
paul.kissman@state.ma.us
Toll-Free (in-state): 800-952-7403
Phone: 617-725-1860
Fax: 617-725-0140
Approved: 6/4/2001
Domain Names Updated: 5/13/2008