Privacy policy

This policy was last updated on 2024-03-25.

This is the privacy policy (“policy”) for the Librarian Portal (librarian.springernature.com, single-ebooks.springernature.com, metadata.springernature.com) which is run and provided by Springer Nature Switzerland AG, Gewerbestraße 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland (we, us and our).

We can also be contacted via onlineservice@springernature.com.

We will only use the personal data gathered over this website as set out in this policy. Below you will find information on how we use your personal data, for which purposes your personal data is used, with whom it is shared and what control and information rights you may have.

I. Summary of our processing activities

We provide information and self-service tools that institutional admins can use to understand and change their engagement with us. Some of this material is freely available; some of it is only available to registered admins. The following summary offers a quick overview of the data processing activities that are undertaken on our website. You will find more detailed information under the indicated sections below.

When you visit our website for informational reasons without setting up an account, only limited personal data will be processed to provide you with the website itself (see III).
In case you register as an admin for your organisation or subscribe to our newsletters, further personal data will be processed in the scope of such services (see IV and V).
Furthermore, your personal data will be used for statistical analysis that helps us to improve our website (see VIII).
Your personal data may be disclosed to third parties (see X) that might be located outside your country of residence; potentially, different data protection standards may apply (see XII).
We have implemented appropriate safeguards to secure your personal data (see XIII) and retain your personal data only as long as necessary (see XIII).
Under the legislation applicable to you, you may be entitled to exercise certain rights with regard to the processing of your personal data (see XIV).

II. Definitions

Personal data: means any information relating to a natural person who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, or an online identifier.

Processing: means any operation which is performed on personal data, such as collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage, adaptation or any kind of disclosure or other use.

III. Informational use of the website

When you visit our website for informational reasons, i.e. without registering for any of our provided services listed under IV and without providing us with personal data in any other form, we may automatically collect additional information about you which will contain personal data only in limited cases and which is automatically recognised by our server.

Examples might include:

your IP address;
your device type, name and IDs;
the date and time of your requests;
the content of your requests;
information on your browser version;
your screen resolution;
information on your operating system, including language settings.

We use such information only to assist us in providing an effective service (e.g. to adapt our website to the needs of your device or to allow you to log in to our website), and to collect broad demographic information for anonymised, aggregated use.

The personal data automatically collected is necessary for us to provide the website, Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. b GDPR, and for our legitimate interest to guarantee the website’s stability and security, Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. f GDPR.

IV. Registration for our services

Access to information and functionality that is specific to an organisation is possible when you log in – an account is required, and you need to be registered as an administrator of the organisation.

If you need to create a personal login with us then we will store and process the following:

Information (such as your name and email address) that is provided by registration;
Information in connection with an account sign-in facility (e.g. log-in and password details);
Communications sent by you (e.g. via e-mail or website communication forms).

The information that is necessary for the performance of the service is labelled accordingly. All further information is provided voluntarily.

We will process the personal data you provide to:

Identify you at sign-in;
Provide you with the services and information offered through the website or which you request;
Administer your account;
Communicate with you;
Provide access (where appropriate) to other Springer Nature group content if you so request;
User Research: To undertake research by examining user behaviour to inform product and design decisions. For more information visit https://uxresearch.springernature.com/

For this, the legal basis is Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. b GDPR.

Registration data is kept until such time as an account deletion request is made. If such a request is received we will erase your data within 30 days. Statutory storage obligations or the need for legal actions that may arise from misconduct within the services or payment problems can lead to a longer retention of your personal data. In this case, we will inform you accordingly

V. Information about the specific uses that require registration/identification

1. See and edit organisation specific information

For the use of all functionality that show information about your organisation, you have to set up an account as described under IV. The same applies to functionality to edit settings, licence content, and ask for quotes for your organisation. This processing is based on Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. b.

By statutory law we are required to retain the provided financial data in relation to transactions (including address, payment and order information) for ten years. However, after 2 years we will restrict the processing of your personal data to comply with the statutory requirements and will not process the personal data any further. Regarding this, the retention of your personal data is based on Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. c GDPR.

2. Customer service

If you contact us by either

e-mail or physical mail
telephone
chat/messaging support
through a website form

we will process the personal data you provide to process and fulfil your request. For this, the legal basis is Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. a and b GDPR.

To provide the requested service your data may be stored in a ticketing system and/or on a support platform to enable data access by the relevant customer support team member. Where appropriate the data will also be forwarded to a different team to fulfil the request (e.g. to update your data) or be used on physical data records, e.g. invoices.

We use Freshdesk (provided by Freshworks GmbH, Neue Grünstraße 17, 10179 Berlin, Germany) as a ticketing system to store and process your requests. Depending on the region you call from and the team providing support we use different telephony solutions. For the most part, customers contacting customer service are directed to our level 1 teams at our Philippines-based data processor Straive (77 Robinson Road, # 13-00 Singapore 068896), if necessary, the service ticket is forwarded to a local level 2 Springer Nature Customer Service team or another relevant team at Springer Nature.

We do not process any sensitive data unless provided by you because you e.g. need support in coping with access issues due to a disability or reveal any protected characteristics during communication. For this, the legal basis is Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. a GDPR.

We share anonymous, aggregated data within the business. We forward emails internally, or provide access to tickets for other teams to e.g. share positive feedback with a stakeholder, or for review by internal teams seeking to improve the products and services. For this the legal basis is Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. f GDPR and represents our legitimate interest to improve our service quality and provide tailored solutions to the customers.

We store your data until completion of the request and, if applicable, as long as required by statutory retention requirements (e.g. for 3 years after completion to prove adequate handling of service requests or subject access requests made under the GDPR).

VI. Automated decision making

We do not use your personal data for automated decision making which produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you; however we do use your personal data to offer you content and services which we believe may be of interest.

VII. Cookies and comparable technologies

This website uses cookies or similar technologies (in the following referred to as “cookies”). Some of the cookies described below are so-called first party cookies where we are responsible for dropping the cookies and processing the personal data. Other cookies we use may be provided by third party (third party cookies). These third parties drop the cookies and process the collected personal data for their own purposes, e.g. to provide you with advertisement.

a) Strictly necessary cookies

Strictly necessary cookies are cookies that are necessary to provide the services and features available through the websites. Without the cookies, the service cannot be provided. Therefore, these cookies are always activated and cannot be rejected. The legal basis for the use of the cookies and the respective data processing is Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. b GDPR. You may find more information on the cookies, e.g. information on the provider, purpose of the cookie, lifespan of the cookies and the data categories processed as well as the retention period, in our cookie banner/cookie preference centre.

b) Other cookies

We may also use other categories of cookies that are not strictly necessary. These categories may include, for example, analytics cookies or marketing cookies. We will only use these cookies if you have provided your explicit consent via our cookies banner/consent management tool. The legal basis for the use of the cookies and the respective data processing is Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. a GDPR. You may find more information on the cookies, e.g. information on the provider, purpose of the cookie, lifespan of the cookies and the data categories processed as well as the retention period, in our cookie preference center.

Please note that we neither have the control of the extent of personal data that is collected by the respective plug-in provider nor do we know the processing’s purpose or the period your personal data will be retained. Your personal data will be transferred to and processed inside and outside of the EEA. For further information about the potential risks of a cross border data transfer refer to XI.

It is possible that the provider may disclose your personal data to its business partners, third parties or authorities.

You can prevent the installation of such a cookie

by a respective setting of your browser that blocks the installation of third party cookies,
by generally blocking cookies under https://www.google.co.uk/settings/ads/plugin or
by deselecting the option for tracking cookies via the Springer Nature cookie preference centre.

Further information about the processing of your personal data in the provider’s course of operation is provided by its privacy policy. Moreover, you will be provided with further information with regard to your rights and settings concerning privacy. You can access the provider’s privacy policy by following these links:

VIII. Analytics

Our Consent Management Platform

Our CMP places the following cookie on your computer:

sncc

This allows us to identify if the cookie banner is displayed, which choices you made and how to act upon those choices (Opt-in or Opt-out of cookie categories). This cookie is necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. This is usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences. Please click here to review your current settings. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

You can set your browser to block these cookies, but some parts of the site may then not perform as designed.

Our CMP will also automatically collect additional information about you which will contain personal data only in limited cases and which is automatically recognised by our server (as per Section III, above). It is used to collect broad demographic information based on your IP address for anonymised, aggregated use. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interest in optimising our service by monitoring the effectiveness of our CMP, Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. f GDPR.

For statistical analyses we use web analytics services such as Google Analytics, collect information about the use of this site.

General tracking information

The tools collect information such as:

Device and browser information (operating system information, Mobile device identifier, mobile operating system, etc.)
IP address
Page accessed, URL click stream (the chronological order of our internet sites you visited)
Geographic location
Time of visit
Referring site, application, or service

We use the information we get from the providers to determine the most useful information you are looking for, and to improve and optimise this website.

We will track your behaviour online for the purposes described above; this data will not be shared outside of Springer Nature. The legal basis for this processing via Google Analytics is consent, Art. 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. a GDPR, to analyse our website’s traffic, improve the user’s experience and optimise the website in general.

We do not share information on your web behaviour with any 3rd party providers without your explicit consent. Consent is provided by clicking the appropriate button on the web banner that appears on your first visit to the website. The legal basis for this processing is Art. 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. a GDPR and represents you consent to accepting 3rd party targeting cookies.

Depending on the provider the information generated about your use of the website may be transferred to and processed in third countries, e.g. the United States. For further information about the potential risks of a cross border data transfer please refer to section XI. The tools collect only the IP address assigned to you on the date you visit this site, rather than your name or any other identifying information. The provider will use this information in order to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on website activities and to provide other services relating to website and internet use to us.

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland (“Google”). On our behalf Google will use the information generated by a cookie for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity and providing other services relating to website activity and internet activity in connection with the use of the website and according to your consent preferences. You can access the Google Analytics privacy policy here.

The legal basis for the data transfer is Art. 28 GDPR in conjunction with the data processing agreement.

You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser or by amending your preferences. In addition to that you may prevent the collection of the information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) and the processing of this data by Google if you download and install the browser plug-in available at the following link: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

IX. Third party content and social media plug-ins

This website may contain links to third party websites. We are not responsible for the content and the data collection on respective third party websites; please check the privacy policy of respective websites for information of respective websites’ data processing activities.

1. Dimensions

We use Dimensions by Digital Science, based at 6 Briset St, London, EC1M 5NR, UK to identify the publications by an author in some of our applications and services. The applications may show an author’s publications as per Dimensions and/or their co-authorships with the aim of furthering the collaboration between scientists and generally supporting individual scientists in their work. Digital Science is a data controller in this regard and we have no say in how the data is processed in Dimensions, please see their privacy policy for information on how Digital Science process personal data more broadly.

2. SurveyMonkey

From time to time we issue user surveys on our website and in our apps regarding different topics. The participation in such surveys is completely voluntary. To provide the survey and analyse your feedback we usually use a feedback function operated by SurveyMonkey Europe UC 2nd Floor, 2 Shelbourne Buildings, Shelbourne Road, Dublin, Ireland. The information collected via this service is processed according to our instructions on SurveyMonkey servers located in the USA. You can find more information regarding the usage and security of your data here:

https://www.surveymonkey.de/mp/policy/privacy-policy/

X. Information sharing

Where personal data is disclosed to third parties for the purposes mentioned above the legal basis for the transfer of your personal data is Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. b and f GDPR. Some of the recipients may reside outside the EEA. For further information about cross border transfer in general and transfers outside of the EEA see section on Cross border data transfers.

We may disclose your personal data to contractors/data processors who assist us in providing the services we offer through the website. Such a transfer will be based on data processing agreements (Art. 28 GDPR). Therefore, our contractors will only use your personal data to the extent necessary to perform their functions and will be contractually bound to process your personal data only on our behalf and in compliance with our requests.

In the event that we undergo re-organisation or are sold to a third party, any personal data we hold about you may be transferred to that re-organised entity or third party in compliance with applicable law.

We may disclose your personal data if legally entitled or required to do so (for example if required by law or by a court order). The legal basis for this will be Article 6 sec. 1 sent. 1 lit. c GDPR (in conjunction with the respective national law).

XI. Cross border data transfers

Within the scope of our information sharing activities set out above, your personal data may be transferred to other countries (including countries outside the EEA) which may have different data protection standards from your country of residence. Please note that data processed in a foreign country may be subject to foreign laws and accessible to foreign governments, courts, law enforcement, and regulatory agencies. However, we will endeavour to take reasonable measures to maintain an adequate level of data protection when sharing your personal data with such countries.

In the case of a transfer outside of the EEA, this transfer is safeguarded by EU Model Clauses in accordance with Article 46 GDPR. You can find further information about the aforementioned safeguards by following this link https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection_en or contact our Group Data Protection Officer via dataprotection@springernature.com for specific information on respective safeguards.

XII. Security

We have reasonable state of the art security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of personal data under our control. For example, our security and privacy policies are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary and only authorised personnel have access to personal data. Whilst we cannot ensure or guarantee that loss, misuse or alteration of information will never occur, we use all reasonable efforts to prevent it.

You should bear in mind that submission of information over the internet is never entirely secure. We cannot guarantee the security of information you submit via our website whilst it is in transit over the internet and any such submission is at your own risk.

XIII. Data retention

We strive to keep our processing activities with respect to your personal data as limited as possible. In the absence of specific retention periods set out in this policy, your personal data will be retained only for as long as we need it to fulfill the purpose for which we have collected it and, if applicable, as long as required by statutory retention requirements.

XIV. Your rights

Under the legislation applicable to you, you may be entitled to exercise some or all of the following rights:

require (i) information as to whether your personal data is retained and (ii) access to and/or duplicates of your personal data retained, including the purposes of the processing, the categories of personal data concerned, and the data recipients as well as potential retention periods;
request rectification, removal or restriction of your personal data, e.g. because (i) it is incomplete or inaccurate, (ii) it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected, or (iii) the consent on which the processing was based has been withdrawn;
refuse to provide and – without impact to data processing activities that have taken place before such withdrawal – withdraw your consent to processing of your personal data at any time;
object, on grounds relating to your particular situation, that your personal data shall be subject to a processing. In this case, please provide us with information about your particular situation. After the assessment of the facts presented by you we will either stop processing your personal data or present you our compelling legitimate grounds for an ongoing processing;
take legal actions in relation to any potential breach of your rights regarding the processing of your personal data, as well as to lodge complaints before the competent data protection regulators;
require (i) to receive the personal data concerning you, which you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and (ii) to transmit those data to another controller without hindrance from our side; where technically feasible you shall have the right to have the personal data transmitted directly from us to another controller; and/or
not to be subject to any automated decision making, including profiling (automatic decisions based on data processing by automatic means, for the purpose of assessing several personal aspects) which produce legal effects on you or affects you with similar significance.

You may (i) exercise the rights referred to above or (ii) pose any questions or (iii) make any complaints regarding our data processing by contacting us using the contact details set out below.

XV. Contacting us

Please submit any questions, concerns or comments you have about this privacy policy or any requests concerning your personal data by email to our Group Data Protection Officer. You can contact our Group Data Protection Officer via dataprotection@springernature.com

The information you provide when contacting us at dataprotection@springernature.com will be processed to handle your request and will be erased when your request is completed. Alternatively, we will restrict the processing of the respective information in accordance with statutory retention requirements.

XVI. Amendments to this policy

We reserve the right to change this policy from time to time by updating our website respectively. Please visit the website regularly and check our respective current privacy policy. This policy was last updated on 2023-12-20.