[Web4lib] Managing Patron Interaction on Website

[Shawn E. Romine]

Hello,

 

We are just about to take the next step with our public website (using
the CMS TikiWiki) in allowing patron interaction (comments, forum posts,
etc.) and I have a couple of questions regarding policy and procedure:

 

1)Could someone share any disclaimer/guidelines they use regarding
patrons posts on library websites?  Do you usually have a disclaimer?
What I am looking for is general guidelines for patrons (racist
comments, foul language, etc.), to include something that lets the
patrons know ultimately the library is responsible for the content and
can remove/edit at will.

 

2)How much problems do you have with offensive material being posted and
how do you handle it?  Who determines what is offensive (is "democrats
suck" offensive?)? Is there an elaborate process involved (cmte?) or is
it generally handled by the webmaster? Library Director?

 

3)Do you generally have some type of mechanism that allows you to
preview the comment before it is posted, or do you generally allow it to
post and then remove it?

 

Any information you can provide to shed some light on this subject is
much appreciated. Certainly libraries are not in the business of
censoring information, but we want to establish guidelines right up
front which will most likely help with resolving issues in the future.

 

Shawn Romine

Electronic Resources Librarian

Douglas County Library

Roseburg, OR

541-440-4228

seromine at co.douglas.or.us

http://dclibrary.us