Thanks to Chris Zammarelli, Chair, Government Information Division, Special Libraries Association, for sharing information about social media providers and the government in this article.
http://www.lexisnexis.com/tsg/gov/Best_Practices_2009.pdf">2009 Best Practices for Government Librarians: Change: Managing It, Surviving It, Thriving on It. The 2009 edition includes 60 articles
and other submissions provided by more than 50 contributors from librarians in government agencies, courts, and the military, as well as from professional association leaders, LexisNexis Consultants, and more.
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If you work at a federal library with a collection of archived media, such as photographs or videos, it recently became a bit easier* to use social media providers to create a digital repository for these items.
The General Services Administration reached agreements in March with YouTube, Vimeo, blip.tv, and Flickr that provide agencies with terms of service that are in line with federal law.
In an article for Nextgov, Jill R. Aitoro gave an example of the roadblocks that had prevented federal agencies from making use of social media websites:
... most terms of service agreements contain indemnification clauses that require a party to agree to be financially responsible for specified damages, claims or losses. Under the Antideficiency Act, the government cannot make payments or commit to payments at some future time for goods or services if not appropriated by law, and that includes possible payments for damages or claims.
Aitoro's article also pointed out that social media providers held registered users to state laws, but federal agencies are held to federal laws.
In the press release announcing the terms of service agreement, the GSA said it had been negotiating for six months with the aforementioned websites. YouTube, Vimeo, blip.tv, and Flickr were the first sites the GSA negotiated with because, according to Doug Beizer in Federal Computer Week, "those providers are innovative and have large audiences." Sheila Campbell wrote in the Web Content Managers Forum that the GSA is also negotiating with Facebook, MySpace, Blist, iTunes, and Yahoo Video, among other websites.
Beizer wrote that Twitter was already an acceptable social media provider for federal agency use because its terms of service were in line with federal law.
Now, about that asterisk in the first paragraph, the one next to the word "easier." While federal agencies now no longer need to negotiate terms of service with social media content providers, this doesn't mean that a federal library can just sign up for Flickr and post all the photographs it has in its archive. Campbell notes, "If you're at a federal agency, you need to work with your agency attorneys and any other key stakeholders to be sure your agency can agree to the legal provisions of each agreement."
For more information, please read the following:
"Landmark agreements clear path for government new media," General Services Administration press release: March 25, 2009.
"Instructions for signing terms of service agreements with social media providers" by Sheila Campbell in Web Content Managers Forum: March 19, 2009.
"GSA signs agreements with Web 2.0 providers" by Doug Beizer in Federal Computer Week: March 25, 2009.
"GSA signs deals for agencies to use social networking sites" by Jill R. Aitoro in Nextgov: March 25, 2009.