POLICY NO. 15

REVISION - January 2001

CONFIDENTIALITY OF PATRON RECORDS

POLICY

The information contained in Voyager as it pertains to a patron's personal data as well as that patron's borrowing record shall remain confidential and not be made available to persons outside the University of Kentucky Library System.

These policies have been established on the basis of (a) the American Library Association's policy which states:

Librarians must protect each user's right to privacy with respect to information sought or received, and materials consulted, borrowed, or acquired.
(ALA Policy Manual, Policy 54.15, no. 3, pg. 237),

and (b) the Kentucky Attorney General's opinion of 1982 which declares that registration and circulation records of libraries, although public records, are not subject to the Open Records Law and are therefore not required to be made available for public inspection:

A public or private library is not required to allow inspection of its circulation records under the Open Records Law. (OAG 82-149)

This opinion is based on the Kentucky Revised Statutes pertaining to the Open Records Law which defines such records as follows:

Public records containing information of a personal nature where the public disclosure thereof would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. (KRS 61.878 (1)(a)

UK Libraries, Rev. Oct. 1990
UK Libraries, Rev. June 1993

Other Circulation Policies & Procedures

1. Registration of Patrons
2. Registration of Faculty Research Assistants (Proxy)
3. Patron Record Expirations
4. Charging Items
5. Proxy Charge for Faculty / Staff
6. Patron Has Reached Charge Limit
7. Renewing Material
8. Patron Has Reached the Renewal Limit
9. Renewal of Material with Recalls or Holds
10. Patron Has Overdues
11. Patron Owns Fines or Fees
12. How to Treat Fine Blocks
13. Courtesy Discharge at Other Locations
14. Calendars
16. Registration of Faculty / Staff / Students for Off-Campus Access to Licensed Databases (rev. Nov. 2004)

This page was last updated 31 October 2006. To comment on this document, send mail to pwilson@email.uky.edu.