Social Media Policy
The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners uses social media for outreach, education and information. These tools are not intended for press and constituent communication. Press inquiries should be directed to Celeste Bruno 617-725-1860 X208 celeste.bruno@mass.gov.
For questions and/or complaints regarding agency services please visit: https://answers.mblc.state.ma.us/
Please note, that Records Retention Law of the Commonwealth requires the MBLC to preserve records created or received by a state employee. Pursuant to this retention requirement, comments posted or messages received via an official state agency page on a third-party web-site (such as an official agency profile on a social network) will be treated as state governmental records and may be permanently archived.
Information that you submit voluntarily through social media sites associated with this agency where such information is publicly available, including your name, city or town, and the substance of anything that you post may be disseminated further by being posted online at this website or be publicly discussed by a member of the MBLC.
The MBLC uses:
Blogs (https://mblc.state.ma.us/mblc_blog/)
Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/mblclibraries)
Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/mblclibraries)
Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/mblclibraries)
LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/mblclibraries)
X, formerly known as Twitter (https://twitter.com/mblclibraries)
YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/masslibraries)
The MBLC's use of these social media platforms is intended as a means to provide announcements and updates on current events, programs, and services. It is also used to provide notices to users who elect to watch or follow the MBLC’s announcements on these pages.
- These accounts are maintained and monitored by a combination of MBLC communications and technology staff.
- Social Media is a means we use to connect residents with library services. We review and update these pages frequently as we also monitor and maintain many other channels of feedback, outreach and engagement including feedback from public meetings, email, letters, phone calls, and in-person visits.
- Messages posted on the agency's social media pages may be public record and may also be publicly available. Because not everyone knows that we are on these social media pages, we occasionally search for comments that talk about the MBLC or libraries but don't reference our account and let that user know about our account. We periodically perform these searches to enable us to more effectively listen to and engage with constituents.
- Regarding comments, we expect conversations to follow the rules of polite discourse and we ask that participants treat each other, as well as our employees, with respect. The following comments will be removed if posted:
- Profanity and vulgar or abusive language
- Threats of physical or bodily harm
- Sensitive information (for example, information that could compromise public safety)
- Offensive terms that target protected classes, such as ethnic, racial, sexual orientation, transgender, or religious groups
- Any other comments found by the MBLC social media team to be offensive, inappropriate, or illegal
- For the benefit of robust discussion, we ask that comments remain “on-topic.” This means that comments must relate to the topic that is being discussed within the particular social media site.
- We do not automatically follow accounts back that follow us, and we may or may not comment on user posts to the various social media sites.
- The MBLC will not respond via social media to press inquiries. Press inquiries should be directed to Celeste Bruno 617-725-1860 X208 celeste.bruno@mass.gov.
For questions and/or complaints regarding agency services please visit: https://answers.mblc.state.ma.us/
- These social media pages are hosted by the company that owns them, and are governed by their own separate website policies, including their Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. These policies apply to your use of social media sites. To view these policies, please visit each site. For questions, please contact Celeste Bruno at 617-725-1860 X208.
Photo use
MBLC publishes original photo content, to our Flickr account https://www.flickr.com/photos/mblclibraries
MBLC photos may not be used without written permission. Please contact Celeste Bruno 617-725-1860 X208 celeste.bruno@mass.gov.
RSS feeds
While you can always check MBLC for regular updates, it's often easier to have information come to you. RSS lets you do just that. When you subscribe to an RSS feed, updates come to you as we post them.
MBLC offers RSS feeds to press releases and other relevant news and information. Sign up to receive RSS feeds using the links listed below:
News Releases: https://mblc.state.ma.us/rss/news.xml
Jobs Listings: https://mblc.state.ma.us/jobs/find_jobs/feed.php
MBLC Blog: https://mblc.state.ma.us/mblc_blog/feed/
MBLC Policy approval date: March 7, 2024
ITD approval date: September 22, 2011