Privacy Policy

This policy explains what personal information ELIB collects when you use elib.am and the ELIB mobile app, why we collect it, who else handles it, and what you can do about it. We collect only what the library needs to work, and we never sell personal data.

1. Who we are

ELIB (elib.am) is a free digital library of books, textbooks and study materials, first of all in Armenian. ELIB is responsible for the personal data described in this policy. You can reach us at [email protected] or through the contact page.

2. What we collect

Account details: your first and last name, email address and password when you register. The password is stored only as a one-way hash. A phone number and a postal address are optional and are stored only if you add them to your profile.
Sign in with Google: your name, email address and profile picture, as shared by Google. We never see your Google password.
Your use of the library: the books you open, read or download, where you stopped reading, your bookmarks, the subjects you follow and the reviews you write.
What you send us: materials you upload, messages from the contact form, book suggestions, and the name and email address you give with them.
Donations: the amount, the payment status and, if you give them, your name and email address. Card details are entered on Evoca Bank's payment page and never reach our servers. For a monthly donation we keep only the masked card number, so that you can recognise the card.
Technical data: your IP address, browser and device type, language settings, the page you came from and the time of each request. These are recorded in server logs, and alongside donations and security events.

3. Why we use it

To run the library: your account, reading online, remembering where you stopped, bookmarks and downloads.
To send the emails you asked for: account confirmations, password resets and the weekly email with new books in the subjects you follow.
To answer your messages and to process donations, including monthly ones you set up.
To keep the service safe: stopping spam, abuse and fraud, and finding and fixing errors.
To understand how the site is used, through statistics, and to improve it.

4. Cookies and storage on your device

A session cookie keeps you signed in. For signed-in visitors it lasts up to one year; for visitors who do not sign in it is removed after about two days.
A security cookie stops other websites from submitting forms in your name.
Google Analytics (through Google Tag Manager) and Yandex Metrica set their own cookies to count visits and show how pages are used. Yandex Metrica's Webvisor can record how you interact with a page, such as clicks, scrolling and mouse movement.
So that you can read offline, the site can keep copies of books you have opened in your browser's storage. They stay on your device and are not sent to us.
You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. Reading works without analytics cookies; signing in needs the session cookie.

5. Services that process data for us

Cloudflare delivers the website, protects it from attacks and runs the Turnstile check on some forms. It processes your IP address and request details.
Google provides Sign in with Google, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager and web fonts.
Yandex provides Yandex Metrica.
Sentry receives error reports when something breaks. They can include the page address, your browser and your IP address, and are stored in the European Union.
Evoca Bank processes donation payments.
Our email provider delivers account emails and the weekly digest.
OpenStreetMap supplies the map on the libraries page, and public content networks (jsDelivr, cdnjs, unpkg) serve some scripts and styles. Your browser contacts them directly, so they see your IP address.
When our administrators view the list of users, Gravatar may be asked for a profile picture linked to your email address. Gravatar receives a coded form of the address, not the address itself.
We do not sell or rent personal data. We disclose it to authorities only when the law requires us to.

6. What others can see

Your reviews appear on the book page with your name. Materials you publish show the name they were published under. The rest of your account is private.

7. How long we keep it

Account data: for as long as your account exists.
Sessions: up to one year when you are signed in, about two days otherwise.
Sign-in keys of the mobile app: until you sign out, and never longer than one year.
Messages and suggestions: as long as we need to handle them.
Donation records: as long as accounting and banking rules require.
Server and security logs: only as long as they are needed for security and troubleshooting.

8. The mobile app

The ELIB app uses the same account as the website. Instead of your password it keeps a sign-in key on your device. Signing out cancels that key, and you can delete your account from inside the app.

9. Your rights

You can see and correct most of your details in your profile.
You can ask us for a copy of your data, to correct or delete it, or to stop using it for a particular purpose. Write to [email protected].
Every weekly digest email has a one-click unsubscribe link.
We handle personal data in line with the Law of the Republic of Armenia on Protection of Personal Data. If you think we have not, you can complain to the Personal Data Protection Agency of Armenia.

10. Children

ELIB is open to school students too. If you are under 16, please ask a parent or guardian before you create an account. If you believe a child has given us personal data without permission, contact us and we will delete it.

11. Security

Every connection to the site is encrypted (HTTPS), passwords are stored only as hashes, and only the people who run the library can access personal data.

12. Changes to this policy

When the service changes, we update this policy. This page always shows the version in force.

13. Contact us

Questions about this policy or your data: write to [email protected] or use the contact page.