Freedom of Access and Privacy Policy
Approved by SWAU's Library Advisory Committee, August 2, 2006The staff of Chan Shun Centennial Library at Southwestern Adventist University is committed to protecting the right of access to materials and the privacy of all its users: students, faculty, staff and others, and the confidential relationship which exists between these users and the Library.
In order to achieve that commitment the staff conforms to the standards set by the American Library Association (ALA). Extensive information on access and privacy issues can be found on the association's webpage:
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) requires that personally identifiable information about students be handled within strict guidelines. More information can be found on the FERPA and ALA websites:
US Department of Education: FERPA
ALA: Guidelines for Developing a Library Privacy Policy
| Academic Libraries and FERPA and SEVIS: The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) was passed to protect the privacy of student education records and to define who can access these records. FERPA grants parents the rights until the child turns 18 years old or attends a school beyond the high school level. The Student and Exchange Visitors Information System (SEVIS) maintains updated information on approximately one million non-immigrant foreign students and exchange visitors during the course of their stay in the United States each year. Colleges and universities are now required to report a foreign student's failure to enroll or if students drop out of their programs. Colleges and university librarians need to identify how their institutions implement these laws and whether they have any impact on the collection and retention of library user records. |
| (ALA, Special Privacy Policy Considerations for Academic Libraries, 2006) |
This obligation is accepted by Southwestern Adventist University's Chan Shun Centennial Library which has resolved that:
- Personal details of clients (including residential and employment status and the nature of individual information requests) may not be released or distributed without the consent of the client.
- No information is to be given out with regard to who has borrowed particular material, who has the item on loan at the moment, or who has placed a hold on it.
- Borrowers' cards can give access to personal and private information which must not be made available to anyone but the borrower. They are not to be given to anyone except the borrower indicated on the card.
In situations where local, state or federal officials request information about whether particular clients have borrowed certain library materials, the requestor must be referred to the Library Director.