What Are Cookies

Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit a website. They help the site remember your actions and preferences over time, such as login details, language choices and display settings. Most browsers allow some control over cookies through their settings.

How We Use Cookies

We use cookies and similar technologies (including local storage) for several purposes:

• Essential cookies — These are necessary for the catalogue to function. They enable secure browsing, remember your session and maintain your privacy choices. Without these, parts of the site may not work correctly. For example, essential cookies allow you to navigate between pages without re-authenticating and ensure that your cookie preferences are respected.
• Preference cookies — These store your choices such as text size, reading mode or language. They are active only while you are on the site and, where enabled, may persist across visits so that your selected settings are applied each time you return.
• Analytics cookies — Where enabled, these help us understand how visitors interact with the catalogue — which pages are viewed, how long readers stay and what links they follow. This information is aggregated and does not identify you personally. We use this data to improve the site's usability and content relevance, for instance by identifying which reading guides or thematic collections are most popular.
• Advertising cookies — If advertisements are displayed, we may use Google advertising technologies to serve relevant ads and measure their performance. These cookies track your browsing across websites to build a profile of your interests. You can opt out of Google’s personalised advertising through your Google Account settings or via the Ads Settings page. Note that opting out does not remove ads entirely; it simply means the ads you see will be less tailored to your browsing history.

First-Party and Third-Party Cookies

Most cookies we set are first-party cookies — they belong to our domain. Some third-party cookies may be placed by services we rely on, such as analytics providers or advertising networks (including Google). These third parties have their own privacy policies and cookie practices, which we encourage you to review. For instance, Google’s use of advertising cookies is governed by Google’s privacy policy and you can manage your preferences through Google’s Ads Settings.

Session and Persistent Cookies

Session cookies are temporary and are deleted when you close your browser. Persistent cookies remain on your device for a set period or until you manually delete them. The exact duration varies by cookie and is determined by the cookie’s expiration setting. Persistent cookies allow the site to remember your preferences across multiple visits, while session cookies are essential for maintaining continuity during a single browsing session.

Local Storage

In addition to cookies, we may use local storage (also called DOM storage) to store data on your device. This is similar to cookies but can hold larger amounts of information and does not automatically expire. We use local storage for preferences and to improve site performance. For example, local storage may be used to cache certain parts of the catalogue so that pages load faster on subsequent visits. You can clear local storage through your browser settings.

Your Choices

When you first visit the catalogue, you may see a cookie consent notice where you can accept or decline non-essential cookies. You can change your preferences at any time by accessing the cookie settings link available on every page.

Most browsers allow you to block or delete cookies. However, disabling essential cookies may affect the functionality of the site — for example, you may not be able to use certain features or maintain your preferences across visits. If you block all cookies, you may still be able to browse the site, but some interactive elements may not work as intended.

To withdraw consent for optional cookies, you can adjust your browser settings or use the cookie preference tool provided on the site. If you opt out of analytics or advertising cookies, you will still see advertisements (if displayed), but they will be less relevant to your interests. You can also use your browser’s private or incognito mode to avoid storing cookies from any website.

More Information

If you have questions about this Cookie Policy or wish to exercise your data protection rights, please contact us at editor@owagu.com. We are happy to explain how specific cookies work or help you manage your preferences.