Social Media Policy

The Woodbridge Public Library uses social media to communicate, educate, and inform its public about library programs, materials, and initiatives serving and promoting lifelong learning.

Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, Google+, Reddit, and LinkedIn permit users to engage in ongoing, instantaneous forms of electronic communication that create communities for sharing, collaborating, and exchanging ideas, images, and other personal content. Social media enable the library to promote communication between it and its users. These sites serve as a limited public forum for library users to discuss the library, literature, and library-related issues and to ask the library questions and provide customer feedback.

When posting to the library's social media sites, site users allow library employees to reuse (share) images and comments without the users being compensated for them and without the library being liable for them. The library is not responsible for any content posted by third parties on official library social media sites.

Library Social Media Content

Library employees will regularly create, post, and share current professional content by using social media. Designated staff members will have access to the library social media accounts to manage the following types of content and features:

  • Notice of library events, meetings, and programs; notice of community events
  • Photographs and videos from the above
  • Links to articles, videos about libraries, publishing, books, reading, and other literacy-related content
  • Information about library-related services such as databases and electronic services
  • Highlights of special collections such as local history or new additions to the collections

Public Social Media Content

The library welcomes public comments, photographs, posts, and messages. Library personnel will review this content to ensure it is permissible on its social media pages.

Impermissible Social Media Content

Examples of impermissible communication includes content that is:

  • Racist
  • Sexist
  • Ageist
  • Ethnically demeaning
  • Hostile to any religion
  • Antagonistic toward another's political affiliation
  • Menacing to other individuals
  • Spam and/or commercial advertisements

Permanent Page Visitor Blocks

When impermissible comments are posted, the library:

  • Removes the comments from the social media page immediately and privately (if possible) contacts the people who posted them
  • Permits new posts from page visitors who have posted impermissible comments once, unless the new posts are also impermissible (and in such case are removed from the site)
  • Permanently blocks page visitors who post impermissible comments a third time
  • Retains copies of all deleted inappropriate comments for a period of at least three years to comply with the Open Public records Act (OPRA) document retention requirements
  • In the case of spam and/or commercial advertisements, the library will immediately block the user from posting again.

Adapted From

  • Woodbridge Public Library Policy 2010 Facebook Page Inappropriate Comments from the Publ.061710
  • Cleveland Public Library Policy on the Use of Cleveland Public Library's Social Media Sites
  • Harrison Public Library Social Media Policy
  • Jackson County Public Library Social Media Policy
  • Tazewell County Public Library Social Media Policy

Approval Dates

  • Approved - Board of Library Trustees - May 21, 2015
  • Revised - Board of Library Trustees - February 21, 2019