The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 22: Libraries, History, and Information Technology

Chapter 004: Library Patron Records

• § 171. Definitions

  As used in this chapter:

  (1) “Library” means a public library as defined in subdivision 101(2) of this title; any college, university, or school library; or any other library or archive that is open on a regular basis and makes available on site or circulates materials to the public without a fee.

  (2) “Patron registration records” means library records that contain information a library patron must provide in order to be eligible for borrowing privileges at a library.

  (3) “Patron transaction records” means library records that contain names or other personal identifying information that discloses an individual’s activities within a library, including the materials that have been viewed in print or electronic form, research questions posed, materials in any format that the patron has requested through interlibrary loan or has borrowed, or any other library service or consultation that the patron has requested. (Added 2007, No. 129 (Adj. Sess.), § 1.)

• § 172. Library record confidentiality; exemptions

  (a) A library’s patron registration records and patron transaction records shall remain confidential.

  (b) Unless authorized by other provisions of law, the library’s officers, employees, and volunteers shall not disclose the records except:

  (1) with the written permission of the library patron to whom the records pertain;

  (2) to officers, employees, volunteers, and agents of the library to the extent necessary for library administration purposes;

  (3) in response to an authorized judicial order or warrant directing disclosure;

  (4) to custodial parents or guardians of patrons under 12 years of age; or

  (5) to the custodial parents or guardians of a student, in accordance with the federal Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, by the library at the school the student attends.

  (c) Statistical records pertaining to the patronage, circulation activities, and use of any service or consultation the library provides, provided that they do not contain the names of patrons or any other personally identifying information, shall be exempt from the provisions of this chapter. (Added 2007, No. 129 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 2023, No. 85 (Adj. Sess.), § 244, eff. July 1, 2024; 2023, No. 150 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. July 1, 2024.)

• § 173. Right of patron action

  Any person whose confidential patron registration records or patron transaction records have been disclosed, except as provided in this chapter, is authorized to bring a civil action against the library that disclosed the records. (Added 2007, No. 129 (Adj. Sess.), § 1.)