Privacy Policy

Any information Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center (HAM-TMC) Library collects about individuals is for internal administrative purposes only. The HAM-TMC Library does not share information about individuals with any third party.

The HAM-TMC Library is committed to protecting the privacy of its users. Our policies conform to the Code of Ethics of the America Library Association, which provides this summation of the library community's commitment to privacy: "We protect each library user's right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted." (http://www.ala.org/alaorg/oif/ethics.html)

The HAM-TMC Library gathers data about system and resource usage for administrative purposes and the use of that information conforms to the precepts of confidentiality denoted in the Code of Ethics statement. The HAM-TMC Library collects information about sessions at our website in server access logs. These logs include general information necessary for analyzing the use of our resources, for troubleshooting and for improving services.

Collecting information provides specific benefits to our website visitors. Some online services available through the HAM-TMC Library may also require providing the library further personal information in order to enable remote access to licensed electronic full-text resources, document delivery and the other value-added online services.

Users may communicate with librarians at the HAM-TMC Library through e-mail links available on our website. The HAM-TMC Library will use identifying information contained in e-mails only to respond to a user's request or to analyze trends. To better serve our users, we may also redirect a message to another institution, a government agency, or a person who may be in a better position to respond to the request.

We collect information for the following purposes:

• Completing or supporting an activity, including transactions related to all library end-user services
• Website and system administration
• Research and development
• Research, analysis, and reporting
• Contacting our visitors who have requested information
• Contacting our cardholders regarding library services and programs

Who has access to the personal information we collect? - HAM-TMC Library

Account information is kept until a user�s service entitlements expire. Personal information is maintained as long as the individual retains access privileges to the HAM-TMC Library. In keeping with the Code of Ethics of the American Library Association, this information is held in confidence and not shared with third parties.

If you believe that our website has collected incorrect information or if you would like to dispute any information, please contact us at contact@exch.library.tmc.edu