The Geotechnical, Rock & Water (GROW) Digital Library was created with support from the National Science Foundation and is the first development project towards the creation of a National Civil Engineering Resource Library (NCERL). GROW is part of the National Science Digital Library (NSDL).

GROW is an educational web site, committed to respecting the privacy of those who choose to visit our site. This commitment extends to personally identifiable information of those who: register with GROW, submit resources or metadata, or search or browse GROW's resources.

Personally identifiable information is information provided voluntarily by a user of a web site as part of signing up for a particular service, activity, or event, or in requesting information from the web site. It includes, but is not limited to, the user's first, middle and last names, email address, a physical address, a telephone number, job title, and institution or affiliation. This information is used to create a user name for the purposes of logging into our site to submit, review, or create a personal library of resources; or to respond to the user with a status on a submitted resource; or to provide an e-newsletter if the user chooses this service.

System-generated information. In addition to information actively provided by individuals using GROW, we may record information such as, but not limited to, the following types of information each time these access points are used: Internet address of the computer being used (IP numbers and domain names); web pages requested; operating system used; rich internet application used; referring web page; browser used; date, time, and duration of activity; passwords and accounts accessed; and volume of data storage and transfers.

GROW uses this information to monitor, preserve, and enhance the functioning and integrity of the system. Information is collected for analytical and statistical purposes, and is used to help diagnose problems with the server and to carry out other administrative tasks, such as assessing what information is of most interest, determining technical design specifications, and identifying system performance and/or problem areas.

Cookies. Cookies are short pieces of information used by web browsers to remember information provided by the user, such as passwords and preferences from past visits. GROW uses cookies to store service information. Any information stored in cookies is used for internal purposes only.

Children's guidelines. GROW provides services direct at children in grades K-12. In providing such services, children may be asked to provide personally identifiable information for use solely to enable participation in these activities. This information will not be distributed to third parties.

Links to other web sites are provided on GROW. When users leave the GROW site, they will be going to sites that are beyond the control of GROW. The privacy policies and procedures described here for the GROW site do not apply to any external links.