Privacy Policy

In the course of providing services and circulating library materials, the Libraries acquire information about you such as your name, university ID, and the services and materials you use, by way of a secure Web page. When it is necessary for the Libraries to identify users, it is our goal to gather only the minimum information necessary.

If users provide the Libraries with personal information by filling out a form and submitting it through the site, the Libraries will use that information only to address the user's needs; all access to and use of personal information is restricted to performing library business. The Libraries do not create individual profiles with the information provided to give to any private organizations. The Libraries do not collect information for commercial marketing.

In addition, The Ohio State University Libraries routinely collect information to help us improve functionality and navigation and to monitor performance. Examples of such information collected by The Ohio State University Libraries Web site include:

  • Your Internet location (IP address)
  • Which pages on our site you visit
  • The URL of the Web page from which you came to our site
  • Which software you use to visit our site and its configuration

This type of data is not personally identifiable. A cookie may be placed on your computer to provide anonymous data, including the information listed above. Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, but you can reset your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent.

The Libraries Web site links to other sites and services that are not contained nor controlled within the Libraries online environment. Where the Libraries contract with vendors for digital information products and resources, every attempt is made to include user privacy protections in the license agreements. However, the practices of these external sites are not under the control of the Libraries; thus, users are encouraged to read the privacy statements at those sites to learn of their privacy practices.

For more information about web privacy across all Ohio State websites, visit IT@OSU