Social Networking Policy 1
SOCIAL NETWORKING
POLICY
Purpose
The five branches of the Beaufort County Library are safe and secure gathering places for the learning, leisure and quality of life of all residents. Pursuant our mission, Library staff communicates with the community through the ever-expanding variety of social networking resources on the Internet. As part of the ongoing revision of this policy, staff will maintain a list of currently-employed social networking resources (see Appendix).
Disclaimers of Responsibility and Liability
1. The Library does not act in place of or in the absence of a parent. Nor is the Library responsible for enforcing any restrictions that a parent or guardian may place on a minor’s use of its online resources.
2. The Library does not collect, maintain or otherwise use personal information stored on a third-party site in any way than for
appropriate communication with users of the site.
3. Users must abide by the terms of use imposed by each social networking resource and follow that provider’s instructions for subscribing and unsubscribing to the service.
4. It is important for users to understand that whatever content that they post to a third-party site may become the property of the site, for use as the proprietor sees fit.
5. Each third-party website will have its own privacy policies, and the Beaufort County Library is in no way responsible for the
unauthorized distribution of personal data by any third party.
6. The Library endorses no advertising or promotional information appearing on any third-party site and does not endorse or review content outside of the Library website or site content created by Library staff.
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7. The Library assumes no liability regarding any event or transaction of any participant in any Library-sponsored social networking service.
8. Participation in the Beaufort County Library social networking websites implies agreement with all Library policies, including the
Website User Agreement and the Internet and Computer Use Policy.
9. By posting content, each user agrees to indemnify Beaufort County Council, the Beaufort County Library and all officers and employees from and against all liabilities, judgments, damages, and costs (including attorney’s fees) incurred by them, which arise out of or are related to the content that the user posts.
Staff Guidelines for the Creation of Social Networking Websites
1. Pursuant to the Library’s Strategic Plan, proposals for specific social networking websites originate from the various staff committees (e.g., Programming, Homework Center), and a branch manager may request a branch-specific website. Individual employees are welcome to submit suggestions to the various committees and the branch managers.
2. Upon consultation with the Director for Development and Marketing, the Assistant Library Director authorizes the creation or redesign of all Library social networking websites.
3. A generic Beaufort County Library e-mail address must be used to register for a social networking resource. That is, an address that does not refer to a specific employee, like [email protected] .
4. Usage of social networking media must conform to the Library’s communications manual.
5. The committee chairpersons and branch managers will keep all login, password and e-mail account information on file for their respective social networking accounts. Library IT personnel, the Assistant Library Director and the Director for Development and Marketing will maintain “master files” of all such information.
6. Each staff chairperson is responsible for the updating and supervision of all social networking sites employed by her/his committee. Every member of the committee will receive assignments of tasks to keep the content of the various sites current and free from inappropriate
postings. In the case of branch-specific sites, supervision of the sites and delegation of tasks is the responsibility of the branch managers.
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Staff Use Guidelines
1. All updates, posts and images posted on social networking sites must reflect the same professional, objective viewpoint as for press releases, newspaper articles and other communications to the mass media. All postings must also comply with the Library communications manual.
2. Any Library employee is welcome to submit a posting to a committee chair or branch manager, provided that the item conforms to Staff Use
Guideline 1.
3. Uploading of pictures of individuals or selected groups of patrons requires the formal written consent of each person (or of a minor’s parent or
guardian). Photographs of larger groups attending Library programs do not require such permission, however.
4. At least once a week, committee and branch representatives will monitor the postings of all social networking sites for inappropriate content (see “Customer Code of Conduct” below).
5. All website content must be Library-related.
6. The only postings of a personal nature are “staff highlights”
(Library-approved profiles of individual employees whose pastimes or other special knowledge may be of interest to patrons, or staff who have received
awards, diplomas or other marks of distinction). Each featured employee must consent in writing.
7. Staff must cite the sources of works quoted, paraphrased or whose content has been incorporated into a Library website’s content. Copyright laws apply to social network resources.
8. The Beaufort County Library requests the professional courtesy of all employees in Library-related postings on their own personal social
networking accounts. An adverse comment about a workplace issue may reflect poorly on the Library at large.
Staff Use Guidelines
Intellectual freedom is a cornerstone of public libraries. With regard to social networking websites, the Beaufort County Library welcomes diverse points of
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view, commentary, suggestions, opinion and reaction to website content and user postings. While the Library recognizes and respects differences in opinion, It may remove or decline to publish postings from users when those submissions are irrelevant to the content of the website. The Beaufort County Library reserves the right to remove any inappropriate content, as listed below, and to bar the user from posting any further content to Library social networking resources:
Obscene or racist content
Personal attacks, insults or threatening language
Potentially libelous statements
Plagiarized, uncited or copyrighted material
Persistent postings of irrelevant content
Hyperlinks to irrelevant content
Spam, advertisements or commercial promotions of any kind
Organized political activity
Photographs, images or hyperlinks that fall into the above categories
Content inconsistent with the policies of the website service provider The decision of the Library website administrators is final.
Patron Requests for Reconsideration
A user may request the reconsideration of any of the Beaufort County Library’s social media resources.
The person objecting to a specific resource must complete in full the “Challenge of Library Social Networking Media Form” included on page 5. Submission of the form initiates the due process of review by a committee of professional BCL librarians.
The Library Director will inform the complainant of the review committee’s decision.
The complainant may appeal the decision with an additional request for reconsideration to the Library Board of Trustees, whose decision is final.
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Request for Reconsideration
of Library Social Networking
Resource
Date: _________________________________________________________ Name of resource: ______________________________________________ Requestor’s Name ______________________________________________ Address ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Telephone: (843) _______________________________________________Request represents: Individual Organization
Have you actually reviewed this resource in its entirety ? Yes No If not, what parts?
To what specific content do you object?
What good or valuable content do you find in the resource?
Do you think this resource would be more appropriate for another age group? Yes No
Please explain:
What would you like the Library to do with this resource?
Social Networking Policy 6
DraftDec. 15, 2011
APPENDIX
List of Current Social Networking Resources Committee or Branch Name of specific resource Brief description of purpose / application Date created
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List of Current Social Networking Resources (Concluded)
Committee or Branch Name of specific resource Brief description of purpose / application Date created