PROSPECT HEIGHTS PUBLIC LIBRARY DISTRICT
SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY
POLICY STATEMENT
Prospect Heights Public Library District utilizes digital / social media platforms for the purpose of marketing, sharing and communicating library resources, events and programs to the public.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Any online communications platform or channel used to share or exchange ideas, commentary, messages, reactions, and other forms of engagement, within an open or closed online community or network. This includes, but are not limited to: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Pinterest, and blogs.
USER PRIVACY
Privacy of all users will be respected in compliance with federal and state laws. Only users who have consented to receiving communication via social media and networking platforms will be alerted to new content, posts, shares and or tweets. Consent includes, but is not limited to, users subscribing, following, friending, retweeting, sharing, liking, or commenting on the Library’s social media content. The Library does not collect, maintain or otherwise use personally identifiable information stored on third party social media sites, other than to communicate with users on that site. Users should be aware that third party websites have their own privacy policies and should proceed accordingly.
LIABILITY
The Library is not responsible or liable for content posted by subscribers or third parties in comment sections, forums, message boards, or other social networking sites and postings do not reflect the opinions or positions of the Library, its employees, or the Library Board of Trustees. Users who subscribe to external social networking sites do so at their own risk and are responsible for sharing personally identifying information through those sites.
RESTRICTIONS
Comments, reactions, and engagement with the Library’s social media accounts are monitored and moderated by library staff. Comments should be relevant and specific to content and information shared. The Library reserves the right to deny or remove any comments, tags, and/or images that violate the law, the rights of any third party, or library policies.
Unsuitable comments include but are not limited to:
- Obscene, racist, sexist, or homophobic content
- Personal attacks, insults, or threats
- Potentially libelous statements
- Private or personal information submitted without consent
- Comments totally unrelated to the content of the forum
- Hyperlinks to material that is not directly related to the discussion
- Commercial and/or political promotions
- Spam
- Any messages deemed to be in violation of copyright, trademark right, or other intellectual property right of any third party
- Any material deemed contrary to the general purposes or detrimental to the services of the Library
By posting comments, posts, or other material on Library’s social media sites, users give the Library the right to reproduce, distribute, publish, display, modify, and otherwise use such content for any purpose in any form on any media format.
USER RESPONSIBILITIES
Users of all ages have the responsibility to protect their privacy and should not post personally identifying information, such as last name, school, age, phone number, or address. The Library does not act in place of, or in absence of, a parent. Users may not post comments, tags, or images that are included in the above unsuitable comments lists. Abuse of this policy may result in the user being barred from posting any subsequent messages to the Library’s social media profile(s).
Patrons should be aware that they may be held personally liable for commentary that is defamatory, obscene, proprietary or libelous by any offended party, not just the Library.
REPORTING VIOLATIONS
Users may report violations of the Library’s social media site’s policies to the Library by contacting the administrators of the Library’s social media sites by email at social@phpl.info.
The Library periodically evaluates the role and utility of its online venues and social media. Accounts may be altered or terminated at any time.