Chester County Library

ren’s interest and appreciation for reading and learning. The Chester County Public Library wishes to improve our resources, thus encouraging greater use of the facility to better meet the needs of this community. The Library serves as an educational and recreational center for residents of Chester County. Purpose and Scope:
The Chester County Library uses social media to increase accessibility and awareness to the library's programs, resources and services to serve the library mission. This policy purpose is to address the use of social media activities including but not limited to social networks, blogs, online communications, online catalogs, websites, and mobile applications by both the library and its employees, volunteers, elected officials, and patrons. The Chester County Library’s social media sites are not intended to be traditional public forums for the general exchange of ideas and viewpoints, but a limited public forum specifically for the purpose of discussing library programs, materials and events. The Chester County Library does not make its social media accounts available for general public discussion and limits what may be discussed on library affiliated social media accounts. Audience:
People residing within our official service area as well as patrons that utilize our services and/or social media accounts


Staff Responsibilities:
Library staff that are authorized to moderate/post to social media platforms is reserved to the Director of the library and the Technology Services Clerk. Social media content should be written from the viewpoint of “We,” which represents the library as a whole and not as an individual staff member. Only employees authorized to be responsible for the library social media sites should be actively participating on those sites during work hours. Employees who contribute to the library social media sites are expected to present content in a professional manner and should fact check, cite outside sources, present balanced views, spell check and check grammar, and avoid copyright infringement. Community Boards/ Online Bulletin Boards:
Community boards offer a great opportunity for the library to connect with the community and get word out about services, events, and resources. Library employees authorized to moderate social media sites may share library resources to community board sites but commenting must be turned off. Staff members that on their own time notice a social media member asking where to go for certain services or asking a library related question are encouraged to respond. However, staff members must ensure that all communications meet the expectations of the employee acceptable behaviors for social media. Acceptable Behaviors:
Social media accounts provide an open forum, However, we still expect conversations
to be courteous and respectful. The Chester County Library does not discriminate against any views but does reserve the right to delete or hide comments if they do not meet the acceptable behavior standards. Community Unacceptable Behaviors
● Abusive, violent, obscene, profane, hateful, or racist comments
● Threatening (sexually, harrassment, etc.) comments
● Inappropriate or offensive comments or language
● Encouragement or suggestive of illegal activity
● Slander, defamatory comments or personal attacks of any kind
● Advertising of local or personal businesses or fundraisers
● Links to third party websites by non library approved staff
members
● Hate speech
● Personal information of any kind (last names, school, age, phone
numbers, addresses, etc.)
● Spam
● Copyright violations or plagiarized material
● Comments unrelated to the content of the forum
● Political or religious views and/or opinions
Acceptable Behaviors
● Sharing of library social media for information purposes
● Comments related to the initial post
● Respectful discussion related to the initial post

Staff
Library employees have a right to self-expression when discussing matters of public concern.
1. Library employees should make it clear that the views expressed
are theirs alone and that those views do not represent the views of
the library.
2. Respect the libraries confidentiality. Do not post information that is
still in draft form or is confidential.
3. No comments with any kind of negative, mocking, condescending
tone, etc. should be made about patrons in general about specific
questions from patrons or about patron behavior on the library
social media sites. Board Members
Library board members have a right to self-expression when discussing matters of public concern.
1. Board members should make it clear that the views expressed
are theirs alone and that those views do not represent the views of the
library.
2. Do not post information
that is still in draft form or is confidential.
3. No comments with any kind of negative, mocking,
condescending tone, etc. should be made about patrons in general
about specific questions from patrons or about patron behavior on the
library social media sites. Consequences:
Any communication meeting the following criteria will be hidden or removed if
deemed necessary:
● Personal information
● copyright violations
● plagiarized materials
● Threats
● hateful/abusive/violent/racist
● inappropriate language

Reconsideration:
Moderators of the library social media sites will make the decision to remove or hide a comment. Should you wish to ask for reconsideration or appeal the decision of a
moderator, the Chester County Library Social Media Reconsideration Form but be
completed within 5 days of action taken against the post. If a reconsideration form is
received by library staff within the 5 days, the matter will be brought to the attention of the board at the next scheduled board meeting. Please visit our website,
chestercountylibrary.net, and visit the policies or requests page to access this form. Forms may be sent via email to [email protected], brought in person to the library at 1012 East Main Street, Henderson, TN Attn: Library Director, or faxed to
731-435-1195 Attn: Library Director. Privacy:
Library staff members will protect patron privacy and confidentiality whenever
possible. Social media platforms will not be used to collect information about the
library’s users. Library social media users should refer to the privacy policies of the
social media platform being used. Disclaimer:
By joining, utilizing and/or posting on any library social media sites, you agree to
comply with this policy. The library Social Media Policy applies whether you choose to
post comments from a library computer or not. While we encourage engagement, the
library respectfully requests that your comments be courteous and civil towards one
another. You are responsible for your comments and you may be held personally liable for comments that are obscene, libelous, or defamatory by any offended party and not just the library. The library board reserves the right to adapt and change this policy as needed

Policy adopted by the Chester County Library Board on 9/15/2022. Policy adapted from ALA Social Media Guidelines, Ingalls Memorial Library, and the
Queens Public Library.