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Florida State / College of Music / Quicklinks / Music Library / Policies / Music Library Privacy Policy
Music Library Privacy Policy
“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.“ -- from the American Library Association’s Code of Library Ethics” (Adopted by the ALA Council, June 28, 1995)
The music library receives and routinely uses information about its patrons which is personal and often sensitive. Much of this information may not seem sensitive, but must be treated as such. This includes personal information (birthday, phone number, address, social security number, etc.), circulation information (items a patron has checked out, overdue information, etc.).
Employees are instructed to strictly protect the confidentiality of patron information. All requests for such information should and will be denied. This includes, but is not limited to, requests for contact information ("I'm trying to contact my friend, but I lost his phone number"). This specifically includes all requests for patron circulation records. As signatories to the ALA Code of Ethics, we are not permitted to reveal to anyone, whether student or faculty, which patron has an item that has been checked out.
Under certain circumstances, the library may be required to provide information to law enforcement officials with warrants for such. The library will comply with such requests when lawfully made.
For more information about privacy and the related issues concerning libraries, we recommend the following resources:
- The American Library Association's Issues and Advocacy page
- The Electronic Frontier Foundation's Privacy page
- Florida State University's privacy policy
(These links are provided because we feel they are useful places to begin. We take no responsibility for their content.)
