J. Robert Jamerson Memorial Library

Circulation

6.2 Confidentiality of Library Records

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The J. Robert Jamerson Memorial Library will protect, as far as possible, the privacy of any patron who uses the Library’s resources. The Library will keep patron records solely for the purpose of protecting library property. This policy includes, but is not restricted to, information on borrower’s registration cards, interlibrary loan requests, and Internet transactions.

  1. Library personnel shall not disclose the Library’s circulation records and their contents as pertaining to individual patrons, the number or character of questions asked by a patron, the frequency of a patron’s visits to the Library, or a patron’s name, address, or telephone number to any other individual, corporation, institution, government agent, or agency except as provided in section 3.1.7.

  2. Patrons have the right to receive information about their own records, but must first provide personal identification. Acceptable identification includes a library card, a driver’s licence, or validation of personal information in the patron’s record. Patrons who wish to pay fines for family members may be told the amount only. Information provided over the telephone shall be limited to the number of items charged to a patron and the amount of fines, after the patron has given his or her name and library card number.

The Library Board of Trustees establishes this policy in accordance with the Code of Virginia 2.1-342(b)(7) that exempts library records from the Virginia Freedom of Information Act; library records that can be used to identify both:

  1. Any library patron who has borrowed material from a library
  2. The material such patron borrowed.

Such records shall not be made available to any agency of state, federal, or local government, or any individual except puruant to such process, order, or subpoenoa as may be authorized under the authority of, and pursuant to, federal, state, or local law relating to civil, criminal, or administrative discovery procedures or legislative investigative power. Upon receipt of any process, order, or subpoena seeking Library records, the Library Director and the Commonwealth Attorney of Appomattox County will determine if such a process, order, or subpoena is in proper legal form

Parents or legal guardians may have access to the records of their minor children.

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