Notices
July 3, 2019 Virus Outbreak Statement – Updated
January 2019 Virus Outbreak Statement
Patron account and library transactions
Loan and fine transactions
The WLS privacy policy defines our commitment to protect the confidentiality of borrowers’ personal information, circulation records, interlibrary loan records, and other personally identifiable uses of library materials. WLS make every effort to break the link between a customer and their circulation activity as soon as possible. Records are maintained as needed to report anonymized statistics, collect debts and complete the successful return of borrowed items.
SMS Notifications
The Westchester Library System may contact registered patrons by SMS / Text Messaging for library account and transaction related notifications.
SMS messaging is optional, and customers can opt-in when registering for an account at a member library, enabling SMS notifications in their library account preferences, or by contacting or visiting a library for staff assistance. By opting in, customers consent to receive text messages related to account notifications, due date reminders, and service updates.
Customers can opt-out from SMS notifications at any time by replying STOP to any message, disabling SMS notifications in their WLS Online Catalog library account preferences, or by contacting or visiting a library for staff assistance.
Customer phone number and related contact details are securely stored and will only be used for the purpose of delivering SMS notifications related to library transactions. We will never sell, rent, or share your mobile number with third parties for marketing purposes.
Customers may receive multiple messages per month. The actual number of messages will vary based on a customer’s circulation transactions.
Standard message and data rates may apply based on the customer’s mobile carrier and plan. We are not responsible for any charges incurred from receiving our messages.
If there are any updates to our SMS policy or how your information is used, we will update this Privacy Policy accordingly.
Email Notifications
The Westchester Library System may contact registered patrons by email for library account and transaction related notifications.
Email notifications are optional, and customers can opt-in when registering for an account at a member library, enabling email notifications in their WLS Online Catalog library account preferences, or by contacting or visiting a library for staff assistance. By opting in, customers consent to receive email messages related to account notifications, due date reminders, and service updates.
Customers can opt-out from email notifications at any time by contacting or visiting a library to request staff disable the “Email and courtesy notice opt-in” setting in their account.
Customer email addresses are securely stored and will only be used for the purpose of delivering notifications related to library transactions. We will never sell, rent, or share your contact information with third parties for marketing purposes.
Checkout History
WLS allows patrons to exercise the option to retain their checkout history, if desired.
Patrons can choose to retain their checkout history in their WLS Online Catalog account by enabling “Record my checkout history” in the My Reading History section.
3rd Party Services
WLS purchases access to services such as online databases and electronic books from third-party vendors for use by library patrons. These third-party vendors are reputable partners and may collect personal information in order to provide certain services to its users. The information you submit to the Library may be provided to those third parties so that they can assist us in providing certain services (such as the delivery of eBooks for use on Kindles, or via Kindle apps, through Amazon).
WLS encourages all patrons and staff to be aware of the privacy policy of any online service they choose to use, including those provided by WLS through third-party vendors.
The chart below outlines online services provided by WLS and/or third-party vendors and the type of data they may retain.
| 3rd Party Service/Vendor | Data Retained | Link to Privacy Policy |
| Westchester Library System | Name, address, phone number, email, hold history, fines and fees. With opt-in: checkout history |
Westchester Library System |
| Hoopla | Name, email, checkout history | Hoopla Digital |
| Kanopy Streaming Video | Browser and location data. With opt-in: Name, institution name, email address, password, and other information | Kanopy Streaming Video |
| Library Ideas (Freading) | With opt-in: email | Library Ideas (Freading) |
| LibraryPass (Comics Plus) | LibraryPass | |
| LinkedIn Learning | Name, email and/or mobile number, password | |
| NOVEL Databases | None | NOVEL Databases |
| OverDrive | Lending history, holds, reading progress, bookmarks, highlights, notes, and online activity | OverDrive |
| Project Gutenberg | None | Project Gutenberg |
| Tumblebooks | Opt-in: name, email | Tumblebooks |
| Tutor.com | None | Tutor.com |
| Biblioteca Tumblebooks | Opt-in: name, email | Biblioteca Tumblebooks |
| University of Fashion | Opt-in: name, email | University of Fashion |
| X-Plain Patient Education | Opt-in: name, email, address, phone number | X-Plain Patient Education |
This page last modified: January 3, 2022