Effective as of May 20, 2015

Friends of the Columbus Metropolitan Library (“FOL”, “we”, or “our”) is an organization focused on building awareness and resources to champion the mission of Columbus Metropolitan Library and to advocate on its behalf. We value our community and we provide this privacy policy as your guide to how we handle information we learn about you from your visit to our Web site (the “Site”) and through other electronic communications. This Privacy Policy does not apply to any third party website to which the Site or such other electronic communications may link. Your use of the Site and submission of information to FOL constitutes your agreement to, and acceptance of, this Privacy Policy.

INFORMATION WE COLLECT
User-provided Information: You may provide FOL with what is generally called “personally identifiable” information (such as your name, e-mail address, postal mailing address, telephone number, payment information) when communicating with FOL or using the Site. You may provide such information through a variety of ways, including when you create an account, register to become a member or fan of FOL by completing posted web forms, purchase a gift membership, or when you request information or otherwise communicate with FOL through the Site or by email or other electronic communication.

“Automatically Collected” and “cookie” Information: When you use the Site, open one of our HTML emails or follow any links embedded in our emails, we may automatically record certain information from your web browser by using different types of technology, including standard log files, “clear gifs,” “web beacons” or other similar techniques. This “automatically collected” information may include, without limitation, your Internet Protocol address (“IP Address”), web browser type and version, device type and unique identifier, the web pages or sites that you visit just before or just after the Site, search queries you use to find the Site, the pages you view on the Site, and the dates and times that you visit the Site. In addition, when you use the Site, we may send one or more cookies — small pieces of information containing a string of alphanumeric characters — to your computer.

HOW WE USE INFORMATION
We use personally identifiable information we collect or receive to communicate directly with you through a variety of means, including physical mailings and email, for a variety of reasons relating to the FOL and its mission, such as to provide you with newsletters or other information related to FOL and its mission, to contact you about FOL and related programs that may be of interest to you, and to respond to your inquiries or requests. You may opt out of receiving email communications as described in the “Your Choices” section below. We also use your personally identifiable information to send you Site-related emails (e.g., account verification, membership and billing confirmations and reminders, changes/updates to membership or other features of the Site). You may not opt out of Site-related emails.

FOL may use “Automatically Collected” information and “Cookies” information to maintain and improve the Site and FOL operations, which may include, remembering your information so that you will not have to re-enter it during your visit or the next time you access the Site, and monitoring aggregate Site usage metrics such as total number of visitors and pages accessed. We use the information we collect to better understand how our visitors use different sections of the Site, and to help us make the Site more useful to our visitors.

If you purchase a gift membership to FOL, we ask you for certain information about the gift recipient, such as name, address, telephone and email. FOL will use that information to provide the gift recipient with the benefits associated with that gift, including FOL communications. If the gift recipient desires to change their email preferences, they can do so as described in the section below entitled “Your Choices”.

HOW WE SHARE INFORMATION
FOL may share “Automatically Collected” and aggregated information with third parties and the general public, such as usage statistics or demographic trends regarding how you and others may interact with the Site and FOL. This aggregate information does not identify you personally.

We may disclose information to third party providers that we engage to provide FOL with services, such as web site hosting and maintenance, data analysis, and email distribution. We may also disclose information when required by law, court order, or other government or law enforcement authority or regulatory agency, or when we believe that such disclosure is necessary or advisable, for example, to protect the rights, property, or safety of FOL or others. FOL also shares information with other entities related to FOL or Columbus Metropolitan Library, such the Columbus Metropolitan Library Foundation, for use in accordance with such entities’ privacy policies.

CHILDREN’S PRIVACY
FOL does not knowingly collect or maintain personally identifiable information from persons under 13 years old. IF YOU ARE NOT 13 YEARS OLD OR OLDER YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO USE THE SITE OR SUBMIT PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION TO FOL.

YOUR CHOICES
If your personally identifiable information changes, you should correct, update or amend that information by logging in to the Site and under Manage My Account, select My Profile to change the information. You may also change your preferences to opt-out of receiving future communications from us by logging in to the Site and under Manage My Account, select My Email Preferences. You may choose to receive FOL communications or not to receive them, although you may not opt out of Site-related emails. You cannot remove yourself from our database, but you can opt-out of unwanted communication.

SECURITY
We have put in place procedures in an effort to safeguard and help prevent unauthorized access and use of the information you provide to us and that we collect through the Site. No method of data transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure, and as such we cannot guarantee the security of any information you provide or that we collect. Your use of the Site and your provision of information is at your own risk. FOL is not responsible or liable for any unauthorized access, use or loss of such information or the consequences thereof.

CHANGES
This Privacy Policy is effective as of the date stated at the top of this Privacy Policy and may be updated from time to time as FOL may determine. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on the Site with a new effective date. Your use after such posting constitutes your agreement to the updated Privacy Policy. You should consult this Privacy Policy regularly for any changes.