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BCLA Online Community Guidelines

Overview

BCLA provides opportunities for the BC library community to share information, seek advice, and connect with each other in an inclusive, engaging, and respectful online space. BCLA provides this virtual space as part of our mission: “Advancing Libraries Together”.

These guidelines are provided to set expectations and help you know how to be in BCLA online spaces. They are not exhaustive, and all participants are expected to use good judgment when using BCLA online spaces.

A wise practice: if you are considering an action that you think may be in conflict with the spirit of these guidelines, take 24 hours to reflect before posting or otherwise engaging.

Expectations:

  • Share interesting and inspiring content. Post information and ideas that move the sector forward.
  • Be respectful and open. Engaging in an online community means benefiting from a variety of perspectives, including some that contradict your own. Constructive discussion and debate are expected and encouraged. Disagreement is normal – use this as an opportunity to clarify and understand new ideas.
  • Keep it relevant. Share information that is relevant to libraries and library workers in BC and suitable for the format; not all information or discussions are suited to a public professional online space. Be disciplined in your participation: brief, focused, and on topic leaving space for others.
  • Intention matters, but impact matters more. Act with good intentions and assume others are too. However, if you do harm, recognize that matters more than your intention and take responsibility.
  • Take care of yourself. You are responsible for your own well-being, which may include disengaging from a particular discussion or content.

Responsibilities:

  • Post as yourself. You must use your own name in BCLA online spaces.
  • Respect privacy. This is a public space – do not share personal information, whether it is your own or someone else’s. Do not re-share posts without permission.
  • Make content as accessible as possible. Follow good accessibility practices, including providing alt text for images, captioning videos and/or providing transcripts, using sans serif fonts and high contrast colours.
  • Respect copyright and intellectual property. When posting content that isn’t your own, ensure you’re doing so legally and give credit to creators.

BCLA does not permit:

  • Harassment, discrimination, or abuse of any kind.
  • Commercial messages or promotion of paid events not associated with BCLA.
  • Job postings that have not been posted on the Partnership Job Board.

Addressing Issues

BCLA may address an issue in a variety of ways, including but not limited to privately requesting someone stop problematic behaviour; deleting problematic content from the online community; and in extreme situations, temporarily or permanently blocking someone from participating in the online community.

BCLA staff do not police the online community; generally, the online community is expected to regulate itself. However, if BCLA staff determine there is unacceptable behaviour happening, such as harassment or abuse, they will step in and address it.

The BCLA staff is a small team and may miss something. If you feel the BCLA Online Community Guidelines have been violated, please contact us.

Scope

These guidelines apply to:

  • All posts to Branches: BCLA’s Online Forum
  • All pages on the BCLA website, including those created and administered by BCLA sections, committees, and interest groups
  • All posts and comments on BCLA social media accounts, including those created and administered by BCLA sections, committees, and interest groups
  • Any other online spaces created by BCLA or by BCLA sections, committees, or interest groups

These guidelines are supplementary to the BCLA Privacy Policy, Website Terms of Use, Social Media Policy, and Guideline: Using BCLA Lists – Research, and are not intended to contradict or supersede them.

Suggestions

BCLA welcomes ideas on how to make these guidelines better – share your suggestions with us via our website feedback form.

Review and Updates

This is a living document and may be updated at any time; the guidelines will be reviewed annually, at a minimum, and any updates will be communicated to the BCLA Online Community.

 

Established December 2022