Privacy and Confidentiality Policy

New England Archivists (NEA) takes privacy concerns seriously. NEA is committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of members' personal information. This notice explains how NEA handles personal information.

All personal information will remain confidential and will not be used or disclosed without consent, except as otherwise stated in the following policy. Personal information includes one’s name, e-mail address, and all other data or preferences provided by NEA members.

However, NEA may disclose without a member’s consent this information as required by law or court order.

Scope of Policy

This Privacy and Confidentiality Policy dictates NEA’s handling of members’ personal information. This policy is enforced in all areas of NEA’s business, including online communications, offline communications, direct marketing, and event registration.

NEA maintains a comprehensive database of information on its members in accordance with the general needs and expectations of the organization and its members. This information is intended for purposes related to official NEA business and to facilitate interaction between NEA and its members. Directory information in the database may include home or work addresses, telephone numbers, fax numbers, e-mail addresses, and membership status.

Authorized Use and Disclosure of Information

NEA will use personal information to fulfill registration requests, membership requests, and other requested services. NEA may also use the information to:

• Notify NEA members via US mail or e-mail about organizational and professional news, including products, services, and announcements.
• Make the Web site easier to navigate and update.

With approval of the NEA Board and/or the Development Coordinator, NEA will share (either by sale or professional courtesy exchange) its membership information (i.e., “mailing list,” which may include mailing addresses and/or email addresses) for the following specific purposes only:

• To provide information about products, services or educational programs related to archival work.
• To promote a better understanding of New England’s cultural, historic and informational resources and how to maintain and preserve these resources.
  

All external organizations and companies that receive personal information of members must have an appropriate privacy and confidentiality policy in place and agree to neither repurpose nor sell members’ personal information. NEA members may choose to restrict their directory information from being shared externally. (See section titled "Participating in the Membership Directory and E-Mail Listservs".)

In addition, NEA will share contact information of attendees at semi-annual meetings with the vendors who sponsored those meetings. Attendees may specify on their meeting registration forms that they do not want their contact information published in the meeting directory.

Individual users of the NEA Web site must abide by the following specific rules and regulations:

• Use of NEA’s information for any commercial, public, or political purpose is strictly prohibited.  Prohibited activities include, but are not limited to, solicitations for commercial services, cold-calling of any kind, mass-mailings, or broadcast e-mails.
  

NEA reserves the right to determine whether the use or misuse of information obtained through its Web site by any person or group is a violation of this policy or is otherwise abusive. NEA further reserves the right to bar access to the Web site and directory information by any such person or group and to take appropriate action without notice.

NEA Membership Directory Agreement

NEA offers its members access to the Membership Directory under the following conditions:

• The directory and the contents hereof are proprietary products of NEA.
• The directory shall be used for individual, personal and confidential reference purposes only, and may be used only pursuant to the terms of this agreement.
• The contents of the directory may not, in whole or in part, be reproduced; copied; disseminated; entered into a computer database; used as part of or in connection with the preparation, revision or confirmation of a mailing, telephone, fax, e-mail, or other marketing list; or otherwise utilized, in any form or manner or by any means, except for the user's individual, personal and confidential reference.
  

The directory consists of the names, addresses, telephone numbers, fax numbers and e-mail addresses of NEA members as of the posting of this directory. Their presence in the directory represents only that these individuals are members in good standing of NEA; it does not represent their consent to receive any marketing or related communications.

Accessing the Membership Directory Online

The NEA Membership Directory is user ID and password protected, and it may be accessed by current NEA members only. NEA has taken reasonable precautions to secure personal information. However, it is the NEA member’s responsibility to restrict personal information that he/she does not wish to be generally available.

NEA members will have access to information in the Membership Directory, but may not use the information for commercial or political purposes, promotions, advocacy, or any other purpose, business or otherwise except to facilitate individual personal communication or NEA business. Neither NEA nor the NEA board will liable for any unauthorized use by NEA members who do not adhere to these policies.

Participating in the Membership Directory and E-Mail Listservs

NEA members should edit their own listings in the Membership Directory to ensure that it includes the most current contact information. NEA strongly recommends that members maintain an active email address on file, since NEA communications and business transactions will increasingly be electronic.

Members have the option of excluding their listing from display in the online Membership Directory. This option is included as a checkbox in the "Membership information" section of each member's record. Checking this box will ensure that the entire record is hidden from public display. Members who have difficulty accessing or updating their records in the Membership Directory should contact the NEA Membership Secretary at neamembership@gmail.com. Additional contact information for Membership Committee chair and Web Committee chair are provided in the NEA Leadership List.

NEA offers two email listservs for members:

• NEAannounce, for announcements and information pertaining to the business of the organization, to which members are automatically subscribed upon payment of annual dues.
• NEAdiscuss, a more general discussion list to which members may opt in or out.
  

Please see our listserv page to learn more. Members should contact the listserv moderator to be added to or removed from these lists. Contact information for the current moderator is provided on the NEA Leadership List.

NEA Website

NEA maintains a website for the benefit of its members and others interested in archives, records management and other information resource management issues.

Visitors may access most of the NEA website without submitting any personally identifiable information (PII). However, some sections of the NEA website may request PII in order to access certain data, e.g., membership entries or to complete a form or transaction. The PII supplied will be used only to permit access to data or to execute the immediate transaction. NEA will only transmit PII to third parties (persons/organizations outside NEA) as necessary to complete the transaction requested, as required by law, with one’s permission, or as necessary to conduct official NEA business.

Data Security

NEA has in place reasonable physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information collected online. NEA uses industry standard SSL encryption technology.

Liability and Indemnity

NEA makes no representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of information available through the NEA Web site, links or other materials, either printed or online.

NEA does not warrant that the online system will operate error-free or that the Web site and its server are free of computer viruses or other harmful materials. However, reasonable precautions are in place to minimize these risks.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, NEA disclaims all warranties, including the warranties of merchantability, non-infringement, and fitness for particular purpose. In no event shall NEA or the NEA Executive Board be liable for any damages whatsoever, including, without limitation, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages, resulting from the use of the NEA Web site or printed materials.

By using the NEA Web site or any and all NEA printed material, one agrees to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless NEA, and its respective agents from and against any and all losses, claims, damages, costs, and expenses that may arise from use of any and all NEA resources, or one’s breach of these policies. NEA will provide notice of any such action or claim, and reserves the right to participate in the investigation, settlement, and defense of any such action or claim.

Approved 1 April 2010

Contact New England Archivists

We welcome your feedback and questions.  If you are unsure whom to contact, any of our volunteers will be happy to help direct your question to the appropriate party. 

Please visit the NEA Leadership  and the Committees & Task Forces pages for a full listing of NEA volunteers.  Contact information is available by searching the membership directory.