Change in Library Policy · Opt-in by March 1 to Retain Loan History
Beginning in March 2025, the UW-Madison Libraries will retain only the previous six months of an individual’s loan history. For all materials that are not considered rare special collections, six months after the return of a physical item to the library, information about the loan will be anonymized to protect patron privacy.
According to the American Library Association, the right to privacy includes the right to open inquiry without having the subject of one’s interest examined or scrutinized by others, in person or online. This “freedom to read” is one of the tenets of librarianship and part of the impetus around making loan histories untraceable. However, some readers and/or researchers may rely on their loan history to keep track of books borrowed and consulted. If you would like the Libraries to retain your full loan history, you need to opt-in so that your history is preserved for your use.
For more information about this change in policy and instructions on how to retain or otherwise preserve your loan history, please visit: About Your Loan History