Privacy Policy / Terms & Conditions

We are currently working on a new Privacy Policy that responds to the new European GDPR General Data Protection Regulation. Meanwhile, if you have any questions in regards to our Privacy Policy, please get in touch with us by sending an e-mail to afterword@mybookcase.org.

Following is our ​existing​ Privacy Policy.

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Privacy Policy

My Bookcase believes in the importance of creating a community resource that it is not dependent of big corporations such as Amazon and other mainstream commercially-driven companies. It is in this line that we have decide to not pull information online, and we ask users information such as to upload their personal picture of book covers.

What information we collect, how do we use it and its disclosure

The information collected from our users is:
-Account registration information:
username (required), email address (required) and password (required);
used towards the creation of an account and the running of the service;
this information remain private and not disclosed to any third party.

All email address will automatically become part of My Bookcase newsletter and one can unsubscribe from this service by following the link from the email newsletter.

-Profile details:
name (required), about me (optional), website links (optional) and location/postcode (optional);
used towards the creation of a profile page;
made public for others users to get a glimpse into the background of fellow readers.

-Book details:
Title (required), author (optional), cover image (image taken and uploaded by the user) (required), year (optional), personal review (optional), tags (optional) , publisher (optional), ISBN (optional), Available/Unavailable/On loan (required);
used to create profile pages for books;
this information is public and it is the user responsibility to hold the rights to upload the cover image of books.

How is data stored and user’s rights.
Data is stored in a secured MySQL database.

User holds the right of all the data and can access and edit this data anytime by entering into profile page>settings.

The user can delete the account at any time by going to Settings>delete account. This will mean all collected data is deleted from the server.

Cookies
Cookies are very small text files that are stored on your computer when you visit some websites.

Cookies are used to identify your computer, measure how you use the website so it can be updated and improved based on your needs, give you access to certain restricted areas of the website and to remember the notifications you’ve seen so that we don’t show them to you again

You can disable any cookies already stored on your computer, as well as set up ‘Do Not Track’ in your browser, but these may stop our website from functioning optimally.

Cookies we use come from wordpress, buddy press and Piwik.

Terms & Conditions

Brief description
My Bookcase is a community tool existing as an online resource with an offline focus. Members of My Bookcase can catalogue their personal or professional book collections, browse the searching engine to locate books or navigate into reading lists and connect with fellow readers to send a message and ask to borrow a book in their locality.

Safety
Users agree to not use the My Bookcase platform to upload viruses, bully other users, use the service for any unlawful activity, upload inappropriate pictures or send inappropriate messages.
Users agree to take care of borrowed books and in case of the damage or lost of a book, users (lender and borrower) agree to find a solution in between themselves. Under no circumstances whatsoever will My Bookcase be liable for any loss suffered by the user as a direct or indirect result of using the service.

Account security
The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) severely restricts what information can be collected from children under 13. For this reason, children under 13 are prohibited from using MyBookcase. Children 13 and over may participate with the permission and guidance of their parent or guardian.
If you do no longer want to be part of the service, you can delete your account by accessing the settings>delete account.

Liability
My Bookcase allows you to catalogue your book collection and contact other readers to borrow each other’s books. This is a community service based on trust and under no circumstances whatsoever will My Bookcase be liable for any loss suffered by the user as a direct or indirect result of using the service.

Terms & Conditions for users

My Bookcase users can
> register to the platform as a user by entering the account information (username, password, email) together with information for the creation of the user profile page (name, about, website, location).

> upload a profile image as well as edit the profile information.

> add books to the user personal collection by entering for each book at least the following image: title, cover image. These books will form part of the user profile page and can be edited or deleted at any time.

> use the searching engine to browse the My Bookcase catalogue in search of books or specific collections is always on the top of the website. Users and visitors of the website can search by entering the title, author, username or keyword to search for a book.

> click on the book of interest to learn more about the book as well as the user who owns it.

> click on ‘ask to borrow’ to send a private message to the owner to request to borrow the book. (This option is just on display for a logged-in user). The Private Message feature is processed through the online platform, therefore no email address details are on display. When sending a message, the person receives a notification via email but the answering of it is through the My Bookcase platform.

> reply any messages received by following the link in your email or accessing your messages in My Bookcase platform. All messages are kept on the server and can be accessed at any time in the user account.

> create an account free of messages. If you want to catalogue your books but you do not want to be contacted by other members asking to borrow a book; you can do this by selecting all your books as ‘not available’. This way no one will be able to contact you. As a collective resource, we would like to have as many books to borrow as possible, so we do not encourage users to use this feature. But we do understand that some individuals would like to keep their privacy although wanting to be part of the project.

My Bookcase users can not
> register fake users or enter fake information.

> upload inappropriate profile images

> add books with a cover image that infringes copyright. As a user you grant, represent and warrant that you have the right to use the uploaded image and you grant, represent and warrant—MyBookcase social enterprise a right to display, analyze, use, aggregate, modify, adapt, publish, create derivative works from and perform in any venue or media, online or offline.

> send inappropriate messages to other users. Users are warned not to provide personal information without weighing the risks and benefits. Before meeting another user, we advise not to provide phone number, address or other critical personal data online or offline. Private messages aimed to connect people in order to borrow books. It is not advisable to use this tool for any non-book related performance. Please report to us any misbehavior with this tool.

My Bookcase social enterprise

My Bookcase is a not a lending service or a dating service but a social enterprise with the aim of encouraging reading and proliferation of the written word.
My Bookcase is not intended to cause financial detriment to any author or copyright owner.

My Bookcase communication is strictly reserved to communications regarding the exchange of books.

The law

Although our language is simple and clear for everyone to understand, the intentions are serious and this Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions is a legal document under exclusive jurisdiction of Scottish courts.