St. Mary’s County Library maintains several social media accounts which allow users to share opinions and information about library related materials and activities. Social networking can include, but is not limited to, blogging, instant messaging, social media sites, and wikis.
The Library does not collect, maintain or otherwise use the personal information stored on any third party site in any way other than to communicate with users on that site, unless granted permission by users for Library contact outside the site. The purpose for contact outside the site may include program promotion, volunteer opportunities, reference help, or other similar activities. Users may remove themselves at any time from the Library’s lists, or request that the Library remove them. Users should be aware that third party websites have their own privacy policies and should proceed accordingly.
Comments, posts and messages are welcome and encouraged on St. Mary’s County Library social media pages. The pages will not be blocked nor protected in such a way as to prevent users from reading posted updates. While SMCL recognizes and respects differences in opinion, all such interactions will be regularly monitored and reviewed for content and relevancy. All postings which contain any of the following will be removed and the poster barred from posting on the library’s social media pages.
- Obscene or racist content
- Personal attacks, insults, or threatening language
- Potentially libelous statements
- Plagiarized or copyrighted material
- Private, personal information published without consent
- Comments totally unrelated to the content of the forum
- Hyperlinks to material that is not directly related to the discussion
- Commercial promotions or spam
- Organized political activity
- Photos or other images that fall in any of the above categories
By posting to the Library’s page, the user agrees to indemnify the Library against all liabilities that may arise from user-created content. The Library reserves the right to edit or modify any postings or comments for space or content while retaining the intent of the original post. The Library shall also be granted the right to reproduce comments, posts, and messages in other public venues (i.e., a posting on Facebook may be quoted in a newspaper or on the library website). Identifying information, other than first name, will be removed unless prior approval is granted by the user.
The Library assumes no liability regarding any event or interaction that takes place by any participant in any Library-sponsored social networking service, and does not endorse or review content outside the pages created by Library staff. Participation in Library social media services implies agreement with all Library policies, including its Social Media Policy and Acceptable Use of the Internet Policy and the Terms of Service of each individual third-party service. If a user does not agree to these terms, they are not to use the services provided.
