Guidelines for Participation

Posting Policy

  • All messages should relate to the general topic of programming for and with teens through libraries
  • Commercial solicitations, advertisements, messages that are primarily for commercial purposes, etc. are not permitted. However, a simple statement that offers more information on a service or product is tolerated if it accompanies a substantive message about a subject directly related to the discussion.
  • Posting of defamatory and/or offensive material is strictly prohibited, including but not limited to hate-speech, name-calling and personal insults.
  • 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.
  • Site participants may not under any circumstance use the site to post messages that encourage or call for a boycott of any company. Federal antitrust laws prohibit ALA/YALSA as an organization from organizing, participating in or encouraging a boycott. This is enforced by criminal code (not tax code) and applies to a variety of organizations, including associations and not-for-profits.
  • Site participants may not under any circumstance use the site to post messages that support or oppose any political candidate at the local, state or federal level. IRS tax code strictly prohibits ALA/YALSA as a 501c3 not-for-profit organization from lobbying for or against any political candidate.
    YALSA retains the right to use posted materials in other formats.
  • YALSA does not remove or edit user comments unless said comments violate the policies outlined above. Users who wish to clarify, change or expand upon their own original comments may submit additional comments.
  • YALSA reserves the right not to post or to delete any comment in violation of this policy.
  • The YALSA Executive Committee has the right to remove members of the site who fail to participate as required by these policies.
  • YALSA does not endorse links or opinions contained in user comments.
  • YALSA disclaims all warranties, guarantees, and liability for damages.

Participation Tips

The following guidelines are offered as advice on how to best participate in this community in a manner that will both contribute to the experience of all participants and also reflect well on you.

  • Be civil and respectful of others. Treat others the way you wish to be treated.
  • Say something substantial.
  • Say something new.
  • Verify facts before posting
  • Utilize proper citations and/or accurately attribute all outside sources when appropriate.
  • Utilize tagging and categorization to help users find other related posts and/or to help users find the post at a later time.
  • Provide links to further information, when appropriate.
  • Take personal, ongoing conversations off the site. When interaction becomes just two individuals trading comments, it is a sign that you should take the discussion off the site and correspond with that person directly. If the discussion was of interest to the general community you would see others posting on the topic as well.

Privacy Statement

YALSA will collect no personal information about you when you visit the website unless you choose to provide that information to us. Any information you choose to provide on the website will only be used by YALSA to provide or improve services. YALSA guards your privacy and appreciates your trust.

YALSA recommends that you think carefully about how much personally identifiable information you wish to submit or post to the website. Personally identifying information that you provide by e-mails or web forms will be used only for such purposes as are described at the point of collection (e.g. on a web form), such as to send information or products to you, update your record, or to respond to your questions or comments. If you provide contact information, YALSA staff or its contractors may contact you to clarify your comment or question, or to learn about your level of customer satisfaction with our services.

This website contains links to other sites. YALSA is not responsible for the privacy practices of other sites, which may be different from the privacy practices described in this policy. We encourage you to become familiar with privacy practices of other sites you visit, including linked sites.