ALA Privacy Policy

Thank you for visiting an American Library Association website and reviewing our privacy statement. ALA is committed to protecting the privacy of our members, donors, customers, and other contacts. Our privacy policy is clear: We will collect no personal information about you when you visit our website unless you choose to provide that information to us.

Any information you choose to provide on the website will only be used to provide or improve services. ALA guards your privacy and appreciates your trust.

Members and donors may inform us of their communication preferences at any time by logging in to visit their Communications Preferences page. Please contact ALA if you have any questions about the opt-in or opt-out options available on your Communications Preference page.

Emails, Web Forms & Donations

Personally identifying information that you provide by emails, web forms or donations will be used only for such purposes as are described at the point of collection (for example on a web form), such as to send information or products to you, update your membership or donor record, or to respond to your questions or comments. If you provide contact information, ALA staff or its contractors may contact you to clarify your comment or question, or to learn about your level of customer satisfaction with our services.

Any credit card information you provide for goods, services or donations is secure and used only for your intended purpose.

Information Collected & Stored Automatically

During your visit, as you browse through the web site, read pages, or download information, we will automatically gather and store certain information about your visit but not about you. This information does not identify you personally. We automatically collect and store only the following information about the visit:

  1. The Internet domain (for example, "xcompany.com," if a private Internet access account, or "aschool.edu," if connected from a university) and IP address (the number that is automatically assigned to a computer whenever it is surfing the web) from which access to our web site is gained;
  2. The type of browser and operating system used to access our site;
  3. The date and time of access to our site;
  4. The pages visited and the length of time visited; and
  5. The address of the website from which the initial visit was launched, if any.
  6. We use this information to help us make our site more useful to visitors, by learning about the number of visitors and the technology in use. The data collected are not connected to your personal information or identity.

Security

For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, the ALA uses software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage.

This website contains links to other sites. The American Library Association is not responsible for the privacy practices of other sites, which may differ from the practices described in this policy. We encourage you to become familiar with the privacy practices of other sites you visit, including those linked from our site.

Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this service are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1001 and 1030. Information also may be used for authorized law enforcement investigations. Except for the above purposes, no other attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits.

Revisions

We reserve the right to change or modify this privacy statement at any time. If we revise our privacy statement, we will post a link to those changes on the homepage and in other places so you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.

(originally published April 3, 2003; revised on June 16, 2014 to comply with Better Business Bureau standards; revised on September 18, 2008 to remove links to former content management system)