Privacy
What information do we collect?
If you visit the Summer Reading Challenge and Winter Mini Challenge website, we automatically gather and store the following information about your visit in so that we can track the use of our website in order to make improvements:
- the IP address from which you access our website
- the name of the domain from which you access the Internet (e.g. aol.com, if you are connecting from an America Online account
- the type of browser and operating system used to access our website
- the date and time of your visit to the site
- the pages, files, documents and links that you visit
- the internet address of the website from which you linked to our site (i.e. the previous site you visited before you came to us
What happens to the information collected?
The Summer Reading Challenge and Winter Mini Challenge will not make any attempt to identify individual users or their particular browsing activities. The information above is stored and used in the aggregate only, in order to provide us with information about the general use of our site. We analyse our log files in order to make improvements to the site: for example if we find that some pages are rarely or never visited, we may decide to remove or rewrite them.
What are cookies?
Cookies can be either persistent or session based. Persistent cookies are small pieces of information sent to your browser by a website that you visit. They are stored on your computer, contain an expiry date, and may be used to track your browsing behaviour upon return to the issuing web site. When you register on a website, cookies allow the website to remember your information so you will not have to re-enter it the next time you visit. You can set your browser to refuse cookies from any website you visit. If you choose to do that you can usually still gain access to most, if not all of the site, but you may not be able to conduct certain types of transactions (such as shopping) or take advantage of some of the interactive elements offered. Session cookies are short-lived, are used only during a browsing session, and expire when you quit your browser. Upon closing your browser the session cookie set by the web site is destroyed and no personal information is maintained which might identify you should you visit the web site at a later date.
Does the Summer Reading Challenge and Winter Mini Challenge website use cookies?
The Summer Reading Challenge and Winter Mini Challenge website uses session cookies to record progress throughout the visit to the website.
Email addresses and personal information
There is an optional log in for the Summer Reading and Winter Mini Challenge website which allows visitors to keep track of their progress. As part of the registration process, we ask children to submit age, library authority, and email address. On registration the website automatically assigns children a random user name. The email address will be used to confirm the registration and to send a password reminder email on request. For children who enter a competition, we will use it to let them know if they have won a prize. If children log in to the site, and choose to send in messages to the Chat page or leave a book review, their username is displayed. We ask children to submit
a date of birth when they register so that Book Sorter recommendations can be tailored for different age groups. We do not use this information for anything else. None of the information collected on registration will be used by us apart from in aggregate, to provide us with information about the general use of our site. We will not pass any details on to any third parties.