The University of Toronto Libraries manage a variety of online spaces and services, including social media accounts, blogs, email services, virtual consultations, instruction sessions, virtual events, and instant message and virtual reference and research services. These online spaces, communities and services are an extension of the U of T community. In addition to following U of T’s Student Code of Conduct and U of T Libraries’ Conduct Regulations, we ask you, as a participant in our community, to respect these Community Guidelines, which have been created to foster a high quality and safe environment for our community members.

We do our best to create an inspiring, supportive and fun community, as well as share information that is important to you. We promise to listen to your feedback, answer your questions to the best of our ability and be transparent. Our online spaces and services are monitored by University of Toronto Libraries staff during regular office hours only. We encourage our community to partake in constructive and positive engagement and discussion through the form of likes, comments, reshares, etc. When you use our online spaces and services, you are making the commitment that your behaviour complies with our guidelines.

We welcome open and respectful discussions. Comments and responses read on our social media platforms, which are not published by us, come from members of the public. The content of these comments (including opinions and statements) published on our channels do not necessarily reflect the University of Toronto Libraries and are the responsibility of the individuals posting them.

The University of Toronto Libraries reserves the right to moderate any communications that don't adhere to our guidelines and may block and/or report violators. Specifically, we will not tolerate these behaviours:

Any post, comment, other communication or behaviour that is abusive, harassing, lewd, stalking, trolling, threatening or attacking others, contains depictions of alcohol or drug abuse, or promotes illegal activity of any kind
Posts, comments, other communications or behaviour that is defamatory, offensive, obscene, vulgar or depicting violence
Posts, comments, other communications or behaviour that includes hateful language, or targets race, ethnic group, nationality, socioeconomic status, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, ability, language, religious affiliation, or age
Fraudulent, deceptive or misleading posts or actions
Deliberate disruption of discussion
Posts that are spam or promotional in nature
Any type of solicitation
Advertising
Any post or action that reveals personal or confidential information without consent

If you violate our guidelines, your comment, response or other posts may also be submitted to law enforcement agencies to prevent fraud or to protect the safety of the U of T Libraries community and the public. Do not submit any ideas or materials that you wish to keep confidential or for which you expect to receive compensation. Violations of these community guidelines may result in sanctions as outlined in the University of Toronto Library Conduct Regulations. Furthermore, when you publish a post on any of our social media channels, you agree that your name, likeness and social media handle will be visible and associated with your post and if we reuse your post elsewhere, we may display your name, likeness and handle there as well.

If you have any concerns regarding content or behaviour within U of T Libraries’ social media channels or other online spaces, please contact us immediately at patronrelations@library.utoronto.ca.

Related Policies and Documents

Online community guidelines