EBSCO Privacy Policy

EBSCO, Inc.
10 Estes Street
Ipswich, MA 01938
Inside US: 1-800-653-2726
Outside US: 1-978-356-6500
Facsimile: 1-978-356-6565
information@ebsco.com

Safe Harbor Update:

EBSCO takes data privacy very seriously. Because of the recent rejection of Safe Harbor by the European Union Court of Justice, EBSCO is reviewing its current environment as it pertains to EU directive data controls to ensure we are providing robust and appropriate data protection. We are validating that our approaches to provide adequate protection for data subjects when transferring data from the EU/EEA are appropriate while we await further direction and guidance from the U.S. Department of Commerce and European authorities to negotiate an alternative solution. We will update our privacy policy as soon as more information is available. Please contact us for any additional questions or concerns on this matter.

US-EU and US-Swiss Safe Harbor

EBSCO Publishing complies with the US-EU Safe Harbor Framework and the US-Swiss Safe Harbor Framework as set forth by the US Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information from European Union member countries and Switzerland. EBSCO Publishing has certified that it adheres to the Safe Harbor Privacy Principles of notice, choice, onward transfer, security, data integrity, access, and enforcement. To learn more about the Safe Harbor program, and to view EBSCO Publishing's certification, please visit http://www.export.gov/safeharbor/.

EBSCO Publishing has further committed to refer unresolved privacy complaints under the US-EU or US-Swiss Safe Harbor Principles to an independent dispute resolution mechanism, the BBB EU SAFE HARBOR, operated by the Council of Better Business Bureaus. If you do not receive timely acknowledgment of your complaint, or if your complaint is not satisfactorily addressed by EBSCO Publishing, please visit the BBB EU SAFE HARBOR website at www.bbb.org/us/safe-harbor-complaints for more information and to file a complaint.

Explanation of Privacy Principles in this Policy
EBSCO Publishing wants you to have a positive experience at the websites operated by 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 principles we follow, in accordance with our operations, including with respect to transfers of Personal Information from the European Economic Area in accord with the US-EU or Swiss Safe Harbor principles regarding Notice, Choice, Data Integrity, Onward Transfer (Transfers to Agents), Access and Correction, Security, Enforcement, and Dispute Resolution.

This Privacy Policy sets forth the privacy practices in effect at the EBSCO Publishing websites. If you do not agree to these terms, do not access this website.

Information about Children's Areas at Section E of this Policy

What Information Is Collected and How is it Used?

A.    General Collection and Use of Personal Information
NOTICE: We will only collect and use Personal Information (such as a first and last name, physical address including a street name, e-mail address, telephone number, etc.) ("Personal Information") when a user voluntarily provides it to us or when an institution provides it to us in connection with its method of authenticating users for access to our products. In order to use some portions of our websites, 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 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 available at the EBSCO Publishing website employs a Personalization feature that requires completion of a registration form before a user can use that feature. The Personalization feature of EBSCOhost is a powerful tool that provides users with the means to create and save histories of searches they have conducted. We believe the Personalization feature is a useful tool that will enhance the user's experience at the site, but it does require the user to provide Personal Information to us.

We will use the Personal 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 Information to improve and customize our content.

ONWARD TRANSFER: We may use the Personal Information we collect by sharing it with affiliates, and also with third party agents, vendors, contractors, partners, or content providers of EBSCO Publishing (collectively, "Contractors"). We are not in the business of selling Personal Information to third parties or Contractors, and will share it with affiliates or Contractors only as we describe below. In situations where we provide Personal Information to affiliates or Contractors, we ensure access is granted to the Contractors only upon the condition that the Personal Information is kept confidential and is used only for carrying out the services these affiliates or Contractors are performing for EBSCO Publishing. As part of making that determination whether we will provide Personal Information to affiliates or Contractors, we will obtain assurances that they will safeguard Personal Information consistently with this Policy. Examples of appropriate assurances that may be provided by agents include: a contract obligating the agent to provide at least the same level of protection as is required by the relevant US-EU and Swiss Safe Harbor Principles, being subject to EU Directive 95/46/EC (the EU Data Protection Directive) and The Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) Safe Harbor certification by the affiliate or Contractor, or being subject to another European Union or Swiss Commission adequacy finding.

We also reserve the right to disclose your Personal 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.

In the unlikely event that EBSCO Publishing or substantially all of its assets are acquired, customer information, which may include Personal Information, may be one of the transferred assets.

CHOICE: We understand that you may not want to allow our disclosure of your Personal Information to our affiliates or Contractors, or to let us use that information for purposes that you believe may be incompatible with the purpose for which it originally was collected (as permitted by this policy) or that you later may authorize. Therefore, you may contact us to inform us that you do not want to permit these uses of your personal identifying information. To do so, please contact us by mail or email at the address or email address provided above. It is not our regular practice to collect "Sensitive Information," such as Personal Information specifying medical or health conditions, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership or information specifying the sex life of the individual. If we collect Sensitive Information from you, we commit that we will not disclose it to any third parties, including our affiliates or Contractors, or use that information for purposes that you believe may be incompatible with the purpose for which it originally was collected (as permitted by this policy) unless you expressly tell us that we can disclose that information or use it for those different purposes. In order for us to disclose it or use it for those purposes, you must contact us to inform us that you do will permit these uses of your Sensitive Information. To do so, please contact us by mail or email at the address or email address provided above. DATA INTEGRITY: It is important to us that the Personal Information we collect is appropriate and relevant to the purposes for which we intend to use it. We will use Personal Information only in ways that are compatible with the purposes for which it was collected or subsequently authorized by the person providing the information. EBSCO Publishing will take reasonable steps to ensure that personal information is relevant to its intended use, accurate, complete, and current.

SECURITY: EBSCO Publishing will take reasonable precautions to protect personal information in its possession from loss, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction.

B.    Collection of Non-Personal Information
We collect and use non-Personal Information, including IP addresses and web server log files to track trends, administer the website, track user movement, and gather demographic information. We use this non-Personal Information in the aggregate. We do not combine these types of non-Personal Information with Personal 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 Publishing.

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 website. We are able to access only the cookies that our sites set on your computer and we are only able 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 website. Some of the websites we provide links to also may use cookies. As noted in the "Links to Third Party Sites" section of the Legal/Trademark section of our site, we have no control over these linked websites or access to or control over cookies or other technology used by linked websites.

D.    Security
EBSCO Publishing has taken steps to ensure that Personal Information collected in the future 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 Publishing provides links to websites outside of EBSCO Publishing. These websites may not have the same privacy policies as EBSCO Publishing. EBSCO Publishing takes reasonable care in recommending these websites but is not responsible for their content or privacy policies. We urge users to read the privacy statement of an outside website when leaving our site and linking to an outside website.

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 Publishing sites are not directed toward children. These sites are not designed to collect Personal 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"):

1.     EBSCO Websites for Children and Teens That Do Not Collect Personal Information

Unless the site states to the contrary, users of these services may participate in many activities without providing any personally identifiable 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 email address to respond once, but the email address is deleted immediately after responding. [Section 312.5(c)(2)]
• Where we do collect a user's email 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 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.

2.     EBSCO Websites for Children and Teens That Collect Personal Information

Some EBSCO websites have a target audience of school age children, their parents, teachers, and school administrators. Those sites are governed by special information collection policies. Those policies are viewable by users by clicking on a special privacy policy link that is at the gateway to those sites. At those sites, it is EBSCO's policy to require only the minimal collection of information from the user that is necessary for the user to use the service. However, for some services, it is necessary for EBSCO to collect Personal Information. The collection and use of that information is explained in the privacy policy that is specific to the site that collects personal information.

3.     General Information

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

If you are a parent and would like to

• review any personally identifiable 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
ACCESS: We want to assure you that you have access to your Personal Information that we collect and store. Customers may correct or amend information, or delete information that is inaccurate, or prevent their information from being used for purposes other than those for which it was originally collected. To do so, please contact us by written request or e-mail at the contact information stated above.

G.    Questions
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding the EBSCO Publishing 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 Publishing Website Privacy Policy by posting an updated policy on this page. You agree that continued use of the website is an acknowledgment and consent to any terms contained in the EBSCO Publishing Website Privacy Policy, current at the time of use.

I.    ENFORCEMENT: EBSCO Publishing will conduct compliance audits of its relevant privacy practices to verify adherence to this policy. Any employee that EBSCO Publishing determines is in violation of this policy will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment.

J.    DISPUTE RESOLUTION
In compliance with the US-EU and US-Swiss Safe Harbor Principles, EBSCO Publishing commits to resolve complaints about your privacy and our collection or use of your personal information. European Union or Swiss citizens with inquiries or complaints regarding this privacy policy should first contact EBSCO Publishing at:

Jose Bisbe, Director of Business Continuity
EBSCO Information Services
10 Estes Street, Ipswich, MA 01938
privacyinquiries@ebsco.com

EBSCO Publishing will investigate and attempt to resolve complaints and disputes regarding use and disclosure of personal information by reference to the principles contained in this Policy. For complaints that cannot be resolved between EBSCO Publishing and the complainant, EBSCO Publishing has agreed to participate in the following dispute resolution procedures in the investigation and resolution of complaints to resolve disputes pursuant to the Safe Harbor Principles:

1. For disputes involving employment-related personal information received by EBSCO Publishing from the EEA or Switzerland, EBSCO Publishing has agreed to cooperate with the data protection authorities in the EEA and to participate in the dispute resolution procedures of the panel established by the European data protection authorities. For disputes involving employment-related personal information received by EBSCO Publishing from Switzerland, EBSCO Publishing has agreed to cooperate and participate in the dispute resolution procedures of the Swiss FDPIC.

2. EBSCO Publishing has further committed to refer unresolved privacy complaints under the US-EU or US-Swiss Safe Harbor Principles to an independent dispute resolution mechanism, the BBB EU SAFE HARBOR, operated by the Council of Better Business Bureaus. If you do not receive timely acknowledgment of your complaint, or if your complaint is not satisfactorily addressed by EBSCO Publishing, please visit the BBB EU SAFE HARBOR website at www.bbb.org/us/safe-harbor-complaints for more information and to file a complaint.

K.    Effective Date
This policy was last updated on November 1, 2013.