Posting on Social Media
The purpose of the Library’s social media sites is to inform Library customers about educational opportunities, Library programs, events (including those co-sponsored with other organizations) and materials and to encourage meaningful dialogue among users, community partners and Library staff about Library activities and resources.
The Library invites the public to comment on Library posts and customers are encouraged to share opinions about Library related subjects, resources and programs. Postings do not indicate Library endorsement of the ideas, issues, or opinions expressed in posts on its social media sites.
In addition to the general rules respecting the use of the Library, Kitchener Public Library prohibits the use of its social media for any purpose which would contravene any legislation or government regulation. This includes legislation such as the Ontario Human Rights Code, which prohibits certain forms of discrimination and harassment of individuals or groups because of age, creed, disability, family and marital status, gender identity and gender expression, race, record of offences, receipt of public assistance, sex and sexual orientation; and the Criminal Code of Canada, which includes prohibitions again child pornography, obscenity, hate literature, sedition and literature for illicit drug use. This list is not exhaustive as other legislation such as privacy legislation also applies.
The Library reserves the right to restrict or remove any content that is deemed to be in violation of any applicable law and/or Library policy such as the Safe Use Code. Content and comments on the Library’s social media accounts containing any of the following forms of content and postings shall not be allowed:
- Obscene, sexually explicit comments, child pornography or racist content
- Personal attacks, insults or threatening language
- Potentially libelous, slanderous or defamatory statements
- Copyrighted or trademarked material
- Private, personal information published without consent
- Commercial promotions or spam
- Comments totally unrelated to the content of the forum
- Hyperlinks to material that is not directly related to the discussion
- Charitable solicitations or political campaigning
All Library social media sites will be regularly screened by Library employees. All postings which contain the above content will be removed immediately and may result in the poster being restricted on future postings to the Library’s social media sites.
Kitchener Public Library welcomes comments and ideas from our customers, and will endeavour to join the conversation where possible. Library employees will ensure that emerging themes or helpful suggestions are passed to the relevant staff at Kitchener Public Library; however, staff will not be able to reply individually to all messages received via social media.
The Library, its employees and officials assume no responsibility for any damages, direct or indirect, arising from participation in the Library’s social media.
Customer Participation
By joining, using and/or posting on the Library’s social media sites, you agree to these Terms of Use Guidelines, as applicable. These guidelines apply whether or not a customer chooses to post comments using a computer at the Library or when posting from any other computer to any Library social media site. While the Library encourages dialogue, it respectfully requests that commenters be mindful that its social media sites are open to the public, and that commenters be courteous and civil toward one another.
Customers are personally responsible for their commentary and 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.
