Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) Web Site Privacy Policy

Issued March 28, 2000
Approved by the OPLIN Board of Trustees June 9, 2000

Thank you for visiting the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) Web site unless you choose to provide that information.

You do not have to give OPLIN any personal information to visit its Web site. OPLIN does not track or permanently record information about individuals and their visits.

Here is how OPLIN handles information about your visit to its Web site.

Information Collected and Stored Automatically

If all you do is look around the Web site, read text, or download information, OPLIN will gather and store certain information about your visit automatically.

This information does not identify you personally.

OPLIN automatically collects and stores only the following information about your visit:

1. The Internet domain (for example, "earthlink.net" if you use a private Internet access account such as EarthLink or "yourschool.edu" if you connect from a university's domain) and IP address (a number automatically assigned to your computer whenever you surf the Web) from which you access the OPLIN Web site
2. The type of browser and operating system you use
3. The date and time you visit
4. The topics you view
5. If you linked to the OPLIN Web site from another Web site, the address of that Web site
6. If you search the OPLIN Web site, the search words or phrases you use and the results of the search

How OPLIN Uses This Information

OPLIN uses this information to help make its site more functional for visitors -- to learn about the number of visitors to its site and the kinds of information they seek.

Browser and operating information allow the OPLIN Web site to take you to the version of site that best conforms to the capabilities of your tools. Visitors using text-only browsers or older versions of graphical browsers go automatically to the OPLIN text-only site.

Search results disclose whether the OPLIN Web site contains the kinds of information its visitors seek and are used for planning future additions to the site. These results are not linked to domain, IP, or browser data.

The OPLIN Web site uses Web “cookies” only when necessary to complete a transaction, and then only temporarily. OPLIN does not use persistent cookies.

If You Send Personal Information to OPLIN

If you choose to provide us with personal information -- sending an e-mail to the OPLIN Director or other OPLIN staff members or filling out a "Write to OPLIN" form with your personal information and submitting it through OPLIN’s Web site -- OPLIN uses that information only to respond to your message and to help get you the information you have requested.

OPLIN only shares the information you give it with other agencies or individuals who may be able to respond to your inquiry or as otherwise required by law. OPLIN does not create individual profiles with the information you provide, nor does it give that information to any private organizations. OPLIN does not collect information for commercial marketing.

Information from Children (OH! Kids and OH! Teens Pages)

OPLIN is especially concerned about protecting children's privacy and encourages parents and teachers to be involved in children's Internet explorations, particularly when they’re asked to provide personal information online.

The OPLIN pages for children (OH! Kids) and for teens (OH! Teens) encourage their young visitors to send e-mail messages to OPLIN through the OH! Kids “Talk to OPLIN” page and through its “Write to OPLIN” forms on the main Web site. OPLIN asks children to type their names and e-mail addresses as part of their messages so that an OPLIN staff member can respond personally to them.

OPLIN specifically asks children to get their parents’ or guardian’s permission before providing any information online -- at the OPLIN site or any other site. Most importantly, when children do provide information through the OPLIN Web site, it is only used to enable OPLIN to respond to the writer. OPLIN does not create profiles of children.

All Information Subject to Open Record Laws

Information collected automatically on the OPLIN Web site, as well as e-mail sent to OPLIN, is generally subject to state open record laws except as provided by Ohio or federal law.

Receiving Information from OPLIN

Visitors to the Web site receive information from OPLIN only in response to their own requests.

Links to Other Sites

The OPLIN Web site has links to many other governmental, commercial, educational, and individual Web sites. Once you follow a link from the OPLIN Web site to another site, you are subject to that new site's privacy policy rather than to OPLIN’s privacy policy.

OPLIN does not supervise or control public-access workstations. Be aware that if you send personal information of any kind to any Web site from a public-access workstation, that information very well may remain in the cached files of that workstation and, therefore, open to discovery by other users.

Contact

If you want more information about OPLIN’s privacy policy, contact:

Joel Husenits
Managing Editor
Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN)
2323 W. Fifth Ave, Suite 130
Columbus, OH 43204
Phone: (614) 728-5252
E-mail: editor@oplin.org