Whenever you check out or return an item, our system keeps a record of the transaction, which links details about the item you borrowed to your account. To protect your privacy, UW-Whitewater Libraries anonymizes all loan history data older than six months. This means the records do not include identifying information about the borrower. While we keep the loan data for collection analysis, we aren't able to link it to individual patrons. This privacy policy applies to all libraries within the Universities of Wisconsin System.
Most loan history records from UW-Whitewater, other University of Wisconsin campuses, and other academic institutions will be anonymized 6 months after the item is returned. However, archival and special collection loans will be anonymized 10 years after the item is returned to comply with mandated record retention schedules.
Active loans for physical materials that are still in the possession of library patrons will not show up in the loan history app. Any materials that have been checked out and not yet returned will still show up in your library account but will appear in your loan history app once they are returned to the library.
If you opt in to have us retain your full history, it will contain the item’s title, creator or author, loan date, and other publication information. The loan history will not have a record of any digitization requests – the history only contains physical item loans.
Opting in to retain your entire history means that the Library will maintain a record of all physical items you have borrowed. The simple fact of retaining data increases the risk of exposure of this data to a security breach. The Library takes our cybersecurity role to limit that risk very seriously, but improper and illegal access is always a risk no matter how securely a system is protected. Your loan history is protected under Wisconsin state statute §43.30 and the Library is not permitted to share your information with anyone besides you or your legal guardian. However, under rare circumstances, a library may be compelled by court order to release your circulation data to law enforcement as part of a criminal investigation.
The Library may use aggregated circulation data when making decisions about collections and services. We do not use individual, personal circulation data unless requested by the patron or if needed to resolve a specific internal circulation question.
We do not share personal circulation history, although opting in will allow you to see your own loan history. Wisconsin state statute §43.30 protects this information such that we would not disclose this information to anyone else except through a court order.
If you have opted in to save your loan history, and this data is important to you, we strongly encourage you to download a copy of your loan history from the Loan History app before your relationship with the university ends. When a patron loses their NetID access, they will no longer be able to access their loan history. Furthermore, after a patron leaves UW-Whitewater, we purge their record and loan history from library systems. This information is not recoverable.
Once you have opted in, you can export your loan history by using the Download link in the Loan History app. This will download a text .csv file you can store offline or use in your personal applications.
The option to retain your loan history is only available to Universities of Wisconsin students, staff, and faculty.
Yes, you can switch whether you opt in or opt out of saving your loan history.