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Libraries & Collections Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice (Notice) explains how King’s College London Libraries & Collections (King’s, the College, L&C, we, our, us) processes the personal data of our users. It should be read alongside the King’s College London  Privacy Notice and the  Student Data Collection Notice.

All data processing is carried out in compliance with  King’s Data Protection Policy.

This notice applies to all users of Libraries & Collections including:

  • King’s College London students
  • King’s College London staff
  • NHS Trust staff
  • King’s College London Alumni
  • Staff and students of higher education institutions using our services via the Sconul and University of London Access schemes
  • Members of the public

King’s College London is the data controller of your personal data. The College has appointed a Data Protection Officer, who can be contacted via email at  info-compliance@kcl.ac.uk and via post at Information Compliance team, King’s College London, Room SW1.09 Somerset House, Strand Campus, WC2R 2LS.

What information we hold about you

We may collect and process the following data about you:

  • Name
  • Contact details
  • Date of birth
  • King’s username
  • Library number
  • Department / department affiliation
  • Access arrangements relating to disability
  • King’s joining and leaving dates (staff)
  • Job title (NHS staff)
  • Course completion date (alumni)
  • Home institution (visitors)
  • Feedback responses e.g., from surveys
  • L&C usage e.g., items requested and borrowed, workshop and room bookings
  • Research Grant information (researchers submitting publications to Pure, data to KORDS, or applying for funding to pay open access publishing fees)

How we collect information about you

We collect most of the personal information we hold about you via:

  • automatic data feeds from King’s systems
  • our enquiry management system, email system, and chat widget
  • our online forms
  • in person in our Libraries and reading rooms
  • in the course of providing services to you (e.g., history of L&C usage) or after we have provided services to you (e.g., feedback responses)

How we use the information we hold about you, and the legal basis for processing your data under GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation–  the legislation which governs how data is protected)

We need the information listed above primarily for the provision of Libraries & Collections services and resources. We may process your data to enable King’s to meet our commitments to you, such as teaching, support with your research or assessment. In some cases, we may use your personal information to pursue a legitimate interest of our own or those of a third party, provided your interests and fundamental rights do not override that interest. The “legitimate interest” is generally the interest of King’s (or third party) in providing or supporting the provision of higher education. The situations in which we will process your personal information are listed below.

We use the information we hold about you to :

  • give you access to L&C buildings and space
  • provide you with access to e-books, e-journals, and databases
  • provide and administer L&C services e.g., requesting and borrowing items, booking workshops and rooms
  • respond to enquiries
  • manage academic reading lists
  • facilitate the deposit of publication details in preparation for Research Excellence Framework (REF) exercises
  • facilitate the deposit of full-text publications as required by King’s and research funders’ policies
  • gather usage statistics
  • organise events
  • let you know about the services and resources that L&C provide to NHS users (NHS only)
  • internal learning and data analytics to improve the experience for  users, support the design and delivery of L&C services, and to better understand our community in order to improve engagement, access, and inclusion. Where we use personal data for these purposes, we will ensure that any published information is anonymised. Results will be presented as aggregate data.

Your personal data will also be processed by L&C for compliance with any legal obligations or as part of the wider King’s public interest task. For example:

  • to meet our legal obligations (for example, relating to child protection, diversity and gender pay gap monitoring, employment, health and safety, statutory reporting etc.)
  • for the prevention and detection of crime, and in order to assist with investigations (including criminal investigations) carried out by the police and other competent authorities
  • where a legislative requirement compels us

Automated decision-making and profiling

We use log information on your access to our library journals (such as username, IP address, country, city, time and HTTP status) to enhance existing log file analysis and therefore protect against cyber-attacks and fraudulent activities. The analysis will identify King’s accounts that may have been compromised, so that these accounts can be secured before King’s is blocked from accessing the journals or third parties using the account for fraudulent activities such as journal theft and sending phishing emails.

The legal basis for the processing activities is our legitimate interest to protect against cyber-attacks and fraudulent activity.

Change of purpose

We will only use your personal information for the purposes for which we collected it unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your personal information for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

We may process your personal information without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

Who we share your information with

All L&C users must comply with our  Library Policies. If you do not abide by our regulations we may share your personal data with other departments in King’s or your home institution. If we are required to issue an invoice for a missing item, your data will be shared with King’s Finance.

We may also use your data to provide library usage statistics to King’s or your home institution.

We do not pass your data to third party e-book, e-journal, database, reference management software or booking service providers. Where a third-party service provider requires you to create an account, your contract is with that provider and your data is stored by them, not by King’s College London.

Where access to e-books, e-journals and databases is via UK Federation, OpenAthens or College username and password, your data will be anonymous at the point of use of the third party authentication service.

Your feedback may be used anonymously for marketing purposes.

How long we keep your information for

Your information is stored in line with the King’s  retention schedule.

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collect it for.

Access to the information we hold about you

For access to your library account sign in to  Library Search. You will be able to see the contact information we hold about you and your borrowing history.

If you wish to request copies of the data we hold about you please  contact us.

Changes to this privacy notice

We reserve the right to update this privacy notice at any time, and we will provide you with a new privacy notice when we make any substantial updates. We may also notify you in other ways from time to time about the processing of your personal information.