EBSCO Information Services Privacy Policy

EBSCO Information Services
Post Office Box 1943
Birmingham, AL 35201-1943
Inside US: 1-800-815-9627
Outside US: 1-205-991-1299
Facsimile: 1-205-995-1518

EBSCO Information Services wants you to have a positive experience at the Web sites operated by the EBSCO Information Services group and its two divisions, EBSCO Subscription Services and EBSCO Publishing. We want you to know that we respect the privacy and security of our users. Our goal is to provide you with an experience that delivers the information, resources and services that are helpful to you. In order to achieve this goal, we may collect information from you. We discuss our information collection practices below.

This Privacy Policy sets forth the privacy practices in effect at the EBSCO Information Services group Web sites. If you do not agree to these terms, do not access this Web site.

Information about Children's Areas is in Section E of this Policy

What Information is Collected and How is it Used?

A. General Collection and Use of Personal, Identifying Information
We will only collect and use personal, identifying information (such as a first and last name, physical address including a street name, e-mail address, telephone number, etc.) when a user voluntarily provides it to us. In order to use some portions of our Web sites, or in order to undertake certain actions (such as setting up an account to make a purchase of an article), a user must first complete a registration form or provide an e-mail address that will require disclosure of personal, identifying information. Such disclosure is strictly voluntary. In order to contact us by e-mail, however, you must provide an e-mail address.

For example, the EBSCOhost^® service employs a Personalization feature that requires completion of a registration form before a user can use that feature.

We will use the personal, identifying information we collect for limited internal purposes that may include, but are not limited to, processing your transactions, establishing the identity of account holders, customer service, development, content processing, content classification and providing you with information concerning our services. We will retain this information. We also may use that personal, identifying information to improve and customize our content.

We reserve the right to disclose your personal, identifying information if we are required to do so by law, or in the good faith belief that disclosure of the information is reasonably necessary to comply with legal process, to respond to claims, or to protect or advance the rights, property, safety or well-being of our company, our employees, customers or the public.

B. Collection of Non-Personal, Identifying Information
We collect and use non-personal, identifying information, including IP addresses and Web-server log files to track trends, administer the Web site, track user movement and gather demographic information. We use this non-personal, identifying information in the aggregate. We do not combine these types of non-personal, identifying information with personal, identifying information. We may also share aggregated demographic information with our business partners, sponsors, advertisers and companies that control, are controlled by, or are under common control with EBSCO Information Services.

C. Cookies and Web Service Log File Data
We may place a "cookie" or other tracking or information gathering device used in the industry in the browser files of a user's computer. A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user's hard drive containing information about the user. Cookies enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our Web site. We are able to access only the cookies that our sites set on your computer, and we are able only to determine the type of computer operating system and browser that you are using. We collect information from cookies and other information gathering devices and log files in the aggregate. We do not link the information collected through cookies or other devices to personal information that users submit online while participating in our activities. Users can set their browsers or third party software to reject cookies. If a user rejects the cookie, the user may be unable to use portions of our Web site. Some of the Web sites we provide links to also may use cookies.

D. Security
EBSCO Information Services has taken steps to ensure that personal, identifying information collected is secure, and we have limited the number of people who have access to the information by electronic security systems and password protections that guard against unauthorized access. EBSCO Information Services provides links to Web sites outside of EBSCO Information Services. These Web sites may not have the same privacy policies as EBSCO Information Services. EBSCO Information Services takes reasonable care in recommending these Web sites, but is not responsible for their content, privacy policies or security. We urge users to read the privacy statement of an outside Web site when leaving our site and linking to an outside Web site.

We always use industry-standard encryption technologies when transferring and receiving consumer data exchanged with our site. We have appropriate security measures in place in our physical facilities to protect against the loss, misuse or alteration of information that we have collected from you at our site.

E. Collection and Use of Information from Children: Information for Parents
Most of the EBSCO Information Services sites are not directed toward children. These sites are not designed to collect personal, identifying information from children. On our sites that are designed to be used by children, we comply with the provisions of the Children's On-Line Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA"):

EBSCO Web sites for Children and Teens:
Users of these services may participate in many activities without providing any personal, identifying information. We do not condition children's participation upon disclosure of any more personal information than is reasonably necessary to participate in the activity.

We collect the following information:

If a user wants to use our Personalization features, we ask the user to register with their first name only. [This is not considered personal information by the FTC.]
If a user makes a specific request for a one-time e-mail, we request the user's e-mail address to respond once, but the e-mail address is deleted immediately after responding. [Section 312.5(c)(2)]
Where we do collect a user's e-mail address to respond more than once to a specific request (alerts), we do not allow children under 13 to participate.

We only use the non-personal, identifying information we collect for internal uses, such as improving and customizing our content. We do not link the information collected through cookies or other devices to personal information that users submit online while participating in our activities.

We will not share or distribute this information to any outside third parties not bound by this Privacy Policy.

At the remaining EBSCO Information Services sites, children should not provide information on these sites and should ask a parent help them. We urge parents to experience the Web with their children.

If you are a parent and would like to:

review any personal, identifying information that we have collected online from your child,
have this information deleted, and/or
request that there be no further collection or use of your child's information
or if you have questions about these information practices,

you may contact us at the address or telephone numbers listed above.

F. How to Correct Information.
Customers may correct information or prevent their information from being used for purposes other than those for which it was originally collected by contacting us by written request, phone or e-mail at the contact information stated above.

G. Questions.
If you have any questions, comments or concerns regarding the EBSCO Information Services privacy policy or practices, please go to our Feedback/Comments page and send us an e-mail or write to us at the addresses found at that page or listed above.

H. Changes to Privacy Policy.
We will notify you of changes to the EBSCO Information Services Web site Privacy Policy by posting an updated policy on this page with a notification link to this page from the homepage or by a "News Box." You agree that continued use of the Web site is an acknowledgment and consent to any terms contained in the EBSCO Information Services Web site Privacy Policy, current at the time of use.

I. Effective Date. This policy was last updated on November 22, 2005.