Confidentiality of Library Circulation Records

Records related to the circulation of library materials which contain names or other personally identifying details regarding the users of public, free association, school, college and university libraries and library systems of this state shall be confidential and shall not be disclosed, except that such records may be disclosed to the extent necessary for the proper operation of such library and shall be disclosed upon request or consent of the user or pursuant to subpoena, court order or where otherwise required by statute.

New York (State) Civil Practice Law and Rules Chapter 14, Section 1. Number 4509 (Lexis Law  Publishing, 1999).

New York (State) 1982 Session Laws  Chapter 14 (Lawyers Co-op 1983).

Examples of Requests for Confidential Library Information

These requests cannot be honored --

• Requests for the circulation records of a faculty member, student, staff member or other library card holder by anyone other than the card holder.
• Requests by a faculty member for the identity of students borrowing reserve materials.
• Requests for the name of a person who has signed out a particular item.
• Requests for addresses, telephone or ID numbers or other personal information contained in CAYLIB records.
• Requests to review circulation records of a student suspected of plagiarism.
• Requests to see interlibrary loan records.
• Requests to reveal the nature of a patron's reference request or database search.
• Requests by a parent for information such as fines or other charges by the Library to a student's account, without the student's permission.
• Requests from law enforcement authorities for the identity of anyone conducting research on a particular subject.