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Introduction

The Yellowhead Regional Library is a consortium of 43 public and 43 school libraries. This statement addresses your online privacy and access to information through the Yellowhead Regional Library's headquarters Integrated Library System (ILS) and website.

The Yellowhead Regional Library Board and staff are subject to the Libraries Act and Regulation R.S.A. 2000 Chap. L-11 and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP), and uphold the Canadian Federation of Library Associations’ (CFLA) Statement on Intellectual Freedom and Libraries.

The Yellowhead Regional Library Board’s bylaws and policies are publicly available, including its Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIP) bylaw and Information Technology policy.

Collection and Disclosure of Personal Information

The System only collects the amount of personal information needed to conduct library services and programs. Personally identifiable information contained in the patron record includes:

• Name
• Address
• Phone number(s)
• Email address

Patron records with charges below the defined threshold are purged after they have been expired for two years.

The System does not collect personal information for commercial marketing or distribution to private organizations. The System will only disclose personal information:

a. to law enforcement in response to a court order, such as a warrant, subpoena, or other legal compulsion.

b. in partnership with other Alberta libraries and library systems for the purposes of sharing materials under conditions defined in existing resource sharing agreements and programs (e.g. interlibrary loan agreements, TAL Card, ME Libraries), collecting fees or fines, and retrieving borrowed materials.

c. for the purpose of contacting next of kin or emergency response personnel in the case of an
emergency.

Tracking and Security

Cookies – When you visit a website it may deposit a piece of data, called a web cookie, with the temporary web browser files on your computer. If you wish, you can change the settings on your web browser to deny cookies, or to warn you when a site is about to deposit cookies on your hard drive.

Encryption – The System’s website links patrons to their My Account on TRACpac and Relais for borrowing purposes. These consortia use encryption during the login process/transmission of a patron’s library card, username, and PIN.

eResources – The System subscribes to various databases found under the eResources tab of the System’s and our libraries’ websites. The administrative software of the databases may identify individual patron barcodes with specific titles read, however the System only uses the information anonymously to aggregate usage by patron’s registered library. The System does not analyze individual patron usage. Users may read the databases’ privacy policies on their home pages.

External Links – The System’s website links to other websites and eResources that may collect personal information. Users should review the privacy policies of these sites before providing them with personal data.

Reading History – Patrons can save their reading histories on TRACpac. These lists are private unless the patron chooses to share them, and the System will not share these lists, except when in response to a law enforcement court order, such as a warrant, subpoena, or other legal compulsion.

SimplyReports – The System utilizes SimplyReports software to pull data from the ILS in order to create custom reports and to assist with identifying recent borrowers of a lost or damaged library item. This information can only be drawn for the last five borrowers of an item and is only used for the stated purpose of retrieving missing pieces, missing items, and to invoice for damage or loss.

Usage Statistics – The System uses Google Analytics to discover usage of the System’s and our libraries’ websites. Google Analytics uses cookies. Users may read Google Analytics’ policies.

Parental Responsibility for Minors

Yellowhead Regional Library does not act in loco parentis. Parents and legal guardians take responsibility for what their children access on and through the System’s website. No age restrictions or filters apply to the System’s databases, eResources, or links to external sites, and the System’s Internet access is not filtered.

Programs and Events

Online Forms and Electronic Communication with System Staff – The System may provide online forms for facilitating services or resource acquisition suggestions. These forms will require some user personal information. The System will gather only the personal information necessary to facilitate the registration or request, and the personal information will not be used for any other purpose. Personal information provided to System staff through any other electronic communications, such as email, text, etc. will be used only to facilitate the request submitted.

Social Media

The System may provide access to social media. Users posting comments to the System’s social media should be aware of the public nature of such posts and of their responsibility to exercise caution when sharing personally identifiable information over social media.

These are the terms of use

Yellowhead Regional Library provides services to 303,695 Albertans in 54 municipalities and 10,822 students in three school divisions. Our priority is to provide quality library services to our 43 municipal and 43 school libraries. We continuously strive to be responsive to the needs of our members. 

Our headquarters is located in Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada.

Creating shared value

Yellowhead Regional Library’s (YRL) commitment to its member libraries is an active, ongoing approach that seeks to enrich the collections, resources and services offered to Albertans in the Yellowhead Region.

Simply put, YRL is always growing, learning and sourcing new resources to help make each member library the best it can be.

Find out more

The Regional Automation Consortium

TRAC (The Regional Automation Consortium) is a partnership of Marigold Library System, Northern Lights Library System, Peace Library System, Yellowhead Regional Library, and their member libraries. Using TRACpac you can search a combined catalogue of over 170 libraries with holdings of nearly three million books, DVDs and other material.

TRAC also participates in Alberta-wide borrowing through ME Libraries. Patrons registered through ME Libraries may borrow materials from any TRAC library, subject to local policies and lending periods.

The libraries within TRAC wish to acknowledge Treaty 6, Treaty 7, and Treaty 8 territory, as well as the Métis Nation of Alberta. The TRAC libraries are located on territory that provided a travelling route and home to many Indigenous peoples.

In the 1990s libraries across Alberta faced a number of challenges and opportunities, including the information explosion, the development of new technologies, the emergence of the Internet and a changing government philosophy.

A grassroots response to these challenges led to the creation of The Alberta Library (TAL) in 1997. Internationally recognized for cooperation and collaboration, TAL is a province-wide consortium that now serves 48 member libraries in over 300 locations across the province, including:

• public libraries
• regional library systems
• university libraries
• college, and technical institute libraries
• special libraries

Member libraries work together to take advantage of changing technologies, find creative solutions and seize new opportunities. As a result, Albertans at even the smallest library have access to more than 30 million resources.

Mission

To enrich lives, build community and foster success by bringing people, information and ideas together.

Vision

To be a safe and welcoming place for our diverse community, a place which connects people, inspires learning, literacy, and curiosity, and sparks change for a better community.

Values

• Intellectual freedom: Providing access to all expressions of knowledge and creativity
• Diversity and inclusion: Valuing individuality, a person’s needs, experiences and differences with tolerance and understanding
• Accessibility: providing barrier-free facilities, resources and services
• Community: appreciating and responding to the needs of our community
• Lifelong learning: fostering the joy of reading and learning
• Fun: creating a positive environment in which staff and customers have fun and enjoy what we offer

Here is an original Devon resident’s recollection of how our library began:

Delbert Stuckey and I came to Devon from Leduc to live in the new bachelor quarters in Devon that were built, where the Devon Glass and Car Wash are now, in 1949. These buildings eventually became the Devon Civic Hospital and Doctor’s Offices. 

We roomed two to a room, pretty crowded, and we each had a big suitcase full of books as we both belonged to Book of the Month clubs. When we received our May issues, Del asked me what we should do with all our other books. I answered that we may have to start a library. Del answered in his usual way, “Bang on!!!” Del was the new Esso fire chief and the Fire Hall and Esso Warehouse was right across the street from the bach quarters, where the R.C.M.P. now reside. 

There was a thirty-foot long shelf along the north wall of the fire hall unoccupied. We couldn’t ask for a better spot so two suitcases crossed the street right away. 

So started the Devon Library. 

Del would go out at the start of afternoon shift to let the forty or so operators know of the library. In about two weeks time, we had around 100 books, including a whole set of encyclopedias from Bruce Eaton and 10 or so of Zane Grey’s books. The library stayed in the firehall for about seven months and was moved to the small office in the left front of the theatre building. Del operated it in the evenings for some time and turned it over to two British war brides when he left to join the ministry in Calgary. Later on, it was moved to the basement of the Town Office and in 1955 it became the Devon Public Library. 

 -L.W. (Bill) Clemens

In 1955, the Devon Public Library was established in the Devon Civic Building basement on Main Street. There was some concern about the library’s future success. "This library is very new and was begun at the same time that TV became available here. There is a TV set in every second home here, so we feel that our circulation record is quite good for the circumstances,” explained Dorothy M. Crosby, the librarian at the time. However, it seems there was no reason for concern, as the library later had to be moved to Devon High School (now John Maland High School) in 1966, and finally to the Devon Shopping Mall in 2007, in order to provide the space for its growing collection and to better serve the community of Devon.

What started out as two suitcases of books has now become a library of 36,522 materials, plus e-resources. In 2004 the library joined The Regional Automation Consortium (TRAC), connecting its borrowers with the materials of over 170 public libraries across Alberta. And the story will continue as our library’s collection grows and evolves alongside our community and adapts to new technologies. Thank-you for being a part of our story!

Then & Now:

Milestones:

1955 - Moved to Devon Civic Building basement

1966 - Moved to Devon High School (now John Maland High School)

2005 - 50th Anniversary of DPL

2007 - Moved to the Devon Shopping Mall

2014 - Expansion - 2,500 additional sq.ft

If the library material you want to borrow isn't available through the library's online catalogue, you can request material to be brought in from outside of the TRAC system.

Search for and place holds on materials from any participating Alberta Public or Academic Library with the Relais D2D Inter-Library Loan service.