Cookies Policy

1. What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your device — your computer, tablet, or mobile phone — when you visit a website. They are widely used across the internet to make websites work properly, to remember your preferences, and to give website owners a basic understanding of how their site is being used.

Cookies do not contain viruses or any harmful code, and they cannot access other files on your device. They are simply a way for a website to recognise your browser and store a small amount of information to improve your experience.

You can think of a cookie as a bookmark that the website leaves in your browser — it simply helps the site remember where you were or what you preferred last time you visited.

2. How We Use Cookies

Little Library uses cookies for the following purposes:

  • To keep the website working — some cookies are essential for basic functions like page navigation, account sessions, and security
  • To remember your preferences — such as your preferred age group or reading category, so the site feels familiar when you return
  • To understand how the site is used — analytics cookies help us see which pages are popular, how long readers spend on them, and where improvements can be made
  • To improve performance — technical cookies help pages load faster and more reliably across different devices and browsers

We do not use cookies to serve targeted advertisements, build advertising profiles, or sell your data to any third party. Little Library is a reading platform, not an advertising one.

3. Types of Cookies We Use

We use three categories of cookies on Little Library, each serving a distinct purpose:

  • Essential cookies — these are strictly necessary for the website to function. Without them, certain features such as account login, page navigation, and security cannot operate. Because they are necessary, these cookies cannot be turned off, though you can set your browser to block them — please be aware this may break parts of the site
  • Analytics cookies — these help us understand visitor behaviour in aggregate and in anonymised form. They tell us things like which stories are most read, which pages get the most visits, and how readers navigate through the site. No personally identifiable information is captured through analytics cookies
  • Preference cookies — these remember choices you have made on the website, such as your selected age group or favourite story category, so that your experience feels consistent across visits

We do not use advertising cookies, tracking cookies, or any cookies designed to follow you across other websites. What happens on Little Library stays on Little Library.

4. Cookies We Set

The table below lists the specific cookies that Little Library sets on your device, along with their purpose and how long they last.

Cookie NameTypePurposeDuration
ll_sessionEssentialMaintains your session and keeps you logged in while browsingSession
ll_csrfEssentialProtects against cross-site request forgery attacksSession
ll_consentEssentialStores your cookie consent preferences so we do not ask again on every visit12 months
ll_analyticsAnalyticsTracks anonymised page view data to help us understand how readers use the site12 months
ll_age_groupPreferenceRemembers the age group you last selected so the site opens on your preferred section6 months
ll_categoryPreferenceStores your last selected story category for a more personalised reading experience6 months

Session cookies are deleted automatically when you close your browser. Persistent cookies remain on your device for the period shown above, or until you delete them manually.

5. Third-Party Cookies

In addition to our own cookies, Little Library may use third-party services that set their own cookies on your device. These may include:

  • Analytics providers — such as Google Analytics, which helps us understand site traffic and usage patterns in an anonymised and aggregated form. Google Analytics sets its own cookies and operates under Google's privacy policy
  • Hosting and performance providers — our website is hosted on Vercel, which may set technical cookies to support performance and delivery of the website
  • Affiliate platforms — if you click an affiliate link (for example to Amazon), the destination website may set its own cookies. These are entirely outside our control and governed by the third party's own cookie policies

We have no control over third-party cookies and are not responsible for them. We encourage you to check the cookie policies of any third-party services you interact with through our website.

6. Cookies & Children

Because Little Library is used by children and families, we are especially thoughtful about how cookies are used on our website. We do not use cookies to collect personal information from children, to target children with advertising, or to share children's data with third parties for commercial purposes.

Preference and analytics cookies are used only to improve the reading experience on the website itself. No cookie on Little Library is used to build a profile of an individual child or to track young readers across other websites.

Parents and guardians who wish to restrict cookie use for their children can do so through their browser settings or by using parental control tools available on most devices and browsers. See Section 7 for guidance.

7. Managing Your Cookies

You have the right to accept, decline, or manage cookies at any time. There are a few ways to do this:

  • Through your browser — most browsers allow you to view, manage, and delete cookies through their settings or preferences menu. You can usually find this under Privacy, Security, or Advanced settings
  • Through our cookie banner — when you first visit Little Library, you will be presented with a cookie consent notice where you can accept or decline non-essential cookies
  • By deleting cookies manually — you can delete cookies that have already been stored on your device at any time through your browser settings

Please be aware that disabling or deleting certain cookies may affect how Little Library functions. Essential cookies in particular are required for the website to operate correctly, and turning them off through your browser may prevent certain pages or features from loading as expected.

For step-by-step guidance on managing cookies in your specific browser, you can visit the browser's official help pages — for example, support pages for Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge.

8. Your Consent

When you first visit Little Library, we will ask for your consent to use non-essential cookies — specifically analytics and preference cookies. Essential cookies do not require your consent as they are strictly necessary for the website to function.

You may withdraw your consent at any time by adjusting your preferences through our cookie banner or by managing cookies in your browser settings. Withdrawing consent will not affect the lawfulness of any cookie use that occurred before you withdrew it.

If you are a parent or guardian consenting on behalf of a child, your consent applies to your child's use of the website on the device in question. We encourage parents to review and set cookie preferences on any shared devices used by children.

Your consent choices are stored in the ll_consent cookie, which lasts for 12 months. After that period, we will ask for your preferences again.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Cookies Policy from time to time, particularly if we introduce new features, change our technology providers, or if legal requirements change. Any updates will be published on this page with a revised date at the top.

Where changes are significant — for example if we begin using a new category of cookie — we will make reasonable efforts to notify users through a notice on the website or by updating our cookie consent banner. Your continued use of Little Library after any update constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

10. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Cookies Policy, or if you would like more information about how we use cookies on Little Library, please do not hesitate to get in touch. We are always happy to explain anything more clearly.

You can reach us through the Contact page on our website and we will respond as promptly as we are able.

We believe you should always know exactly what is happening on a website you trust your children to visit. If anything here is unclear, just ask — we will always be straightforward with you.