The Reference and Undergraduate Libraries respect the privacy of our patrons. This policy
is intended to let users know what information is collected by the chat service and how it is used.
The software we use (HumanClick) also has a privacy policy, posted at :
http://www.humanclick.com/support/privacy.htm.
The Library Privacy Policy consists of the following :
what information is collected by our chat service
what the information is used for
who has access to the information
with whom the information may be shared
what choices are available to you regarding collection, use and distribution
of the information
1: What information is collected by our chat service?
All chats are logged by the software we are using, HumanClick.
In addition, the library keeps a staff-use-only database of all of the logs collected by
HumanClick.
2: What is the information used for?
The information is used to help analyze the amount and types of questions we are being asked.
This helps determine appropriate staffing levels, and aides in training librarians and
graduate students for the service.
3: Who has access to this information?
The information collected by the library is only accessible to librarians and staff associated with the
Ask a Librarian project.
4: Who does the library share the information with?
Individual chats are not shared with anyone outside of UIUC library and staff. Statistics
generated from chat logs, as well as excerpts, may be used for reports or publications. However,
information about specific individuals (e.g. IP address, E-Mail, names, phone numbers, etc.) that
might be included as part of a chat transcript will
never be shared outside of the UIUC library system.
5: What choices do users have about the collection, use, and distribution of their information?
Any patron that want to have a record of the their chat deleted may email dh-ward@uiuc.edu
to request the deletion of their chat transcript from the UIUC Library database. Users will need
to know the date and exact time their chat started, as well as their IP address in order to be sure
the exact chat can be found.
