For the purposes of this document, social media means any tool for online publication and commentary, including, but not limited to blogs, wikis, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Goodreads, Flickr, and YouTube.
Statement of Policy
Permission: While serving on Rise, committee members are both granted permission to and are encouraged to use social media as a conduit for informing the library community about the work of the committee. This needs to occur in a professional and ethical manner.
ALA Policy Compliance: Rise committee members must also comply with relevant ALA policies and guidelines, including those that relate to ALA elections and campaigning. ALA guidelines state “appointed committee chairs, or members of committees may endorse candidates, and may use ALA electronic discussion lists to express their support for individual candidate or candidates for ALA offices, as long as they do not use their official titles or create an impression that they are speaking on behalf of an ALA committee or unit of ALA. Candidates can list endorsers by name, but not by ALA title or office. Executive Board members shall not endorse any candidate in any ALA election.” Visit http://bit.ly/z2qLEX (.pdf) to read the full guidelines.
Federal Law Compliance: In order to protect the 501c3 status of ALA, there are topics that association members are not permitted to publish via any official ALA or Rise communication tool, including social media (e.g. the Rise blog). When posting on any committee resource, individuals cannot call for a boycott of a product or company. In addition, individuals posting via an official committee communication tool may not endorse or oppose any federal, state or local candidate running for political office.
Defamatory Speech: Posting of defamatory and/or offensive material is strictly prohibited, including but not limited to hate-speech, name-calling and personal insults.
Copyright: All postings must be free of copyright restrictions that limit distribution. For example, posting a significant amount of a copyrighted work verbatim requires the permission of the copyright holder. To verify that such permission was obtained, all postings of this nature must include a statement that this is the case.
Following the Policy
It is best to err on the side of caution. If a member is unsure whether or not something is appropriate to post on social media, they should contact a committee co-chair before making the post live. If a member, for whatever reason, takes an action that is in conflict with this policy, they will be contacted to resolve the situation and may be asked to withdraw, correct, or revise postings. If the post is determined to be egregious, or intentionally hurtful, the individual may be asked to resign from the committee.
Guidelines
- Personal opinions about other committee members and specific committee decisions are not appropriate to share via social media.
2. Nomination documents, including the spreadsheet and the justifications document, are confidential, and should not be quoted or shared on social media, or otherwise.
3. Committee members are welcome to publish reviews of titles that are eligible for the Rise booklist during their term of service in professional journals (print and/or electronic) or other professional and personal outlets.
4. Committee members are welcome to discuss books on social media that are eligible for the Rise booklist. This includes posting personal reviews on blogs or other platforms.
5. Committee members should not, however, speak on behalf of Rise, nor mention any committee-related activities (including plans to nominate a book, or discuss a book).
6. Rise maintains open deliberations at Midwinter. Committee members are welcome to use social media to extend invitations to attend our deliberations, but details of individual book discussions should not be shared, and final decisions about what is on/not on the list or the Top Ten should be kept confidential until officially published.
This policy was adapted from the “Social Media Policy for YALSA Appointees”, American Library Association, March 16, 2012. http://www.ala.org/yalsa/aboutyalsa/yalsahandbook/socialmediapolicy
Rise: A Feminist Book Project for Ages 0-18 