[Web4lib] MySpace and Public Libraries

[Samantha Schmehl Hines]

Hi Margaret and others,

I don't know if this has been discussed to death (I'm on the web4lib
digest) but at Law for Librarians last April in Chicago we were
encouraged to think of MySpace, blogs and the like as public fora and
manage them in ways that we manage other public fora (have clear
policies for what can and can't be posted reviewed by an attorney, in
accordance with other policies like those for meeting rooms, public
bulletin boards and displays, etc.)  I can try to drag out my material
if you'd like but I don't think I have any firm case law, statutes
etc.

Samantha Hines
Social Sciences Librarian,
University of Montana

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Message: 21
Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 15:51:28 -0800
From: "HAZEL Margaret E" <margaret.e.hazel at ci.eugene.or.us>
Subject: RE: [Web4lib] MySpace and Public Libraries
To: <Web4lib at webjunction.org>
Message-ID:
       <BD2384CED8410B40A1620A83097F94FC014F29D3 at cesrv010.eugene1.net>
Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="us-ascii"

I have a somewhat different angle on this question - I'm trying to find
out if anyone implementing social networking tools of any sort for the
public has gotten a legal opinion on our role as public institutions in
providing that public interaction.  Are we creating a public forum, and
what can we and can't we do, once we've done this?  Have people
considered the intellectual freedom aspects of providing the access to
these interactive tools?  What kind of training, disclaimers, rules,
etc. have you set in place around the tools?

-Margaret Hazel
 Eugene Public Library
 Eugene, OR