Terms of Use

Last Updated: August 15, 2010

Welcome to Yarra Plenty Regional Library's BiblioCommons service (the "Service"), which will help you track your holds and renewals, find the titles you are looking for, and discover new titles and communities. Your use of the Service is subject to these Terms of Use, and indicates that you accept the Terms of Use; they form an agreement between Yarra Plenty Regional Library and BiblioCommons Inc. (collectively referred to below as “We”, “Us” and “Our”) - and you. You may not use the Service if you do not accept the Terms or Use; please read them carefully.

1. REGISTRATION

(1) Is Registration Necessary?

It is not necessary to register in order to search the catalogue. However, registration allows you to take advantage of personalized services, such as managing your renewals and holds, contributing ratings and reviews, personalized recommendations, and communicating electronically with your library and other users.

(2) Eligibility

Registration for use of the Service is open to registered patrons of Yarra Plenty Regional Library and other libraries affiliated with BiblioCommons ("Participating Libraries").

(3) Children

Children are welcome to register for the Service. However, for safety reasons, patrons under the age of thirteen (13) years will be restricted from using the service to communicate directly with other patrons.

We recommend that parents discuss internet safety with their children and monitor their use of this and all internet sites. Children should be advised never to arrange a meeting or to give out personal information such as their real name, phone number, email address, or school - without first consulting their parents or guardians. More information about children’s safety online can be found here.

Please read our Privacy Statement to see how We collect and handle your child’s information.

2. BIBLIOCOMMONS PRIVACY STATEMENT

The privacy of your personal information is important to us. We have established security measures and controls to ensure that your information is only used as you wish. Please review the BiblioCommons Privacy Statement, which forms a part of this agreement.

3. LICENSE AND OWNERSHIP OF THE CONTENT

The services and content provided on BiblioCommons ("BiblioCommons Content") are comprised of 1) services and content provided by Participating Libraries, BiblioCommons and third-party providers ("Service Content"); and 2) materials contributed by our users ("User Content"). All BiblioCommons Content is protected by law, and its use is governed by the rights described below.

Links to the BiblioCommons Service

The Service makes it possible for you to feature public BiblioCommons Content on outside websites or media. This is encouraged under the terms described here. Pages on other websites or media which display BiblioCommons Content must provide a link from each extract to an original presentation of that material on a BiblioCommons webpage. We reserve the right to object to or require the removal of any link that is determined by Us, in our sole judgment, to be inappropriate, misleading, inconsistent with the Service's or a Participating Library’s image and reputation, or that otherwise creates an undue burden on Us or the Service.

4. THE SERVICE CONTENT

The Service Content is the intellectual property of Participating Libraries, BiblioCommons, or their affiliates or their licensors, and is protected by Canadian and international copyright law. Particular elements of the Service Content are also protected by trade-mark law and laws related to trade dress, trade secrets, and unfair competition. Except as arranged by separate agreement, We grant our authorized users a limited, personal, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the Service and Service Content for personal, non-commercial use. All other rights are reserved. You may not copy, reproduce, republish, download, post, broadcast, transmit, make available to the public, or otherwise use the Service Content in any way except for your own personal, non-commercial use; nor may you disassemble, decompile, or reverse engineer the Service.

5. USER CONTENT

Registered users may post User Content to the Service, which for example may include collections, ratings, reviews, video, or conversations with other users. You may make portions of your User Content private, or you may leave it publicly available (as “Public Content”) for the benefit of yourself and other users in yuor library and on the World Wide Web.

Rights

The sharing of User Content is an important objective of this Service. When you contribute Public Content, you grant a license to other users to make use of that material under an Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike Creative Commons License. This is a license that grants others the non-commercial right to copy, distribute, display, perform the work or create derivative works on the condition that the original author is credited, and that any derivative distribution is licensed in the same way.

Registered Users retain ownership of any content that they produce. Unless otherwise indicated, you have the right to use User Content contributed by others according to the same Creative Commons license.

Unless otherwise indicated, when you post Public Content, you grant, represent and warrant that you have the right to grant Us an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free, worldwide license, with the right to sublicense, to use, copy, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt, perform, adapt, create derivative works from, and distribute such content; and you grant Us the right to use your name or username in connection with such content.

Responsibilities

You are solely responsible for the User Content that you post on or through the Service, or transmit to or share with other users. Please read carefully the section in this Agreement entitled "Appropriate Use" to ensure that you understand the responsibilities that you incur when you post User Content.

We respect the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. You represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content that you post; that use of the content you supply does not violate these Terms and will not cause injury to any person or entity; and that you will indemnify Us for all claims resulting from content you supply. We may, at our discretion, disable and/or terminate the accounts of users who infringe these terms.

Copyright Complaints

If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please follow our Notice and Procedure for Making Claims of Copyright Infringement.

Removal of Content

You understand and agree that we may, but are not obligated to, review and delete or remove without notice any User Content at our sole discretion, including without limitation User Content that in our judgment violates this Agreement or which might be offensive or illegal, or that might violate the rights, harm, or threaten the safety of users or others. We are under no obligation to retain any User Content in public view, and We may, at our discretion, remove any material from public view for reasons that may include, but are not limited to, redundancy, timeliness, and the potential to offend. This Service is not intended for the storage of valuable or irreplaceable data.

Suggestions

We accept requests, questions, comments, ideas, concepts, or techniques for new services or products through the Service ("Suggestions"). When you submit Suggestions you agree that they will not be considered confidential, and that they may be stored with your name and email address in a database that may be located outside of your country. By submitting any Suggestions, you grant Us unrestricted, irrevocable, world-wide, royalty-free right to use, communicate, reproduce, publish, display, distribute and exploit such Suggestions in any manner, and you agree that We may contact you via email for clarification or additional feedback.

6. APPROPRIATE USE

All visitors to the site agree not to:

  • access or attempt to access areas of the Service in which they are not authorized;
  • use or attempt to use another person’s account without our authorization, or create a false identity on the Service;
  • use or access the Service or related systems in a way that adversely affects the performance or function of the Service;
  • use any automated system to harvest or capture any BiblioCommons Content from the Service, except as may be specifically permitted using RSS/XML feeds;
  • co-brand the Service or portion thereof ("co-branding" means to display a name, logo, trade-mark, or other means of attribution or identification of any party in a manner reasonably likely to give a user the impression that such other party has the right to display, publish, or distribute the Service or BiblioCommons Content);
  • "frame" the Service or portion thereof so that the Service or Content appears in the same window with a portion of another website.

If you choose to register, you agree to:

  • provide and maintain accurate, current and complete information;
  • ensure that your account is used in keeping with the terms of this agreement;
  • maintain the security of your password and username;
  • not register for more than one account.

Posting Content

Remember that the Service is used by visitors with a broad range of ages and sensibilities. You agree not to use the Service to upload, post, transmit, share, store or otherwise make available any content that:

  • would inhibit any other person from using or enjoying the service;
  • is false or misleading;
  • is harmful, threatening, unlawful, defamatory or may be construed as a personal attack, abusive, inflammatory, harassing, vulgar, obscene, fraudulent, invasive, hateful;
  • constitutes unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, solicitations, promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," political campaigning, or any other form of solicitation;
  • is the private information of any third party, including, without limitation, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, personal identification numbers and credit card numbers;
  • contains software viruses, worms, or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, gain illegal access, destroy or limit the functionality of any data, software, hardware, or telecommunications equipment;
  • constitutes, encourages or provides instructions for a criminal offence, violates the rights of any party, or that would otherwise create liability or violate any local, provincial, national or international law.

In addition, you may not:

  • impersonate any person or entity, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent yourself, your age or your affiliation with any person or entity;
  • solicit personal information from anyone under the age of 18 or solicit passwords or personally identifying information for commercial or unlawful purposes.

7. WARNING ABOUT CONTENT

You understand that by using any of the Services, you may encounter content that may be considered offensive, indecent, or objectionable. Nevertheless, you agree to use the Services at your sole risk and you agree that neither BiblioCommons nor any Participating Library shall have any liability to you for any such content that may be found to be offensive, indecent, or objectionable.

We do not verify the accuracy, truthfulness or reliability of any information posted by users, endorse any opinions, or confirm the credentials of any users who may post information. You should always exercise caution and not rely or act upon any information available on the Service, particularly information that relates to your legal rights or health.

We may, at any time, use automated translation tools to make the Service or portions of it available in languages other than English or French. Such tools have significant limitations and only the English and French versions of any translated content are considered the definitive versions.

Overdue Notices

Reminders are not a replacement for keeping track of your borrowing. We take no responsibility for fines that result from missed reminders.

8. LINKS TO OTHER SITES

The Service may contain links to other websites and resources that are not a part of the Service ("Linked Sites"). We provide links to Linked Sites as a convenience to the Users of the Service and such links do not imply any endorsement of the Linked Sites by us. We have no control over the content of Linked Sites. users must be aware that the Linked Sites may also have terms of use or privacy policies that differ significantly from those of the Service. All use of Linked Sites is at your own risk.

9. GENERAL

You may not assign these Terms of Use or any of your interests, rights or obligations under these Terms of Use. If any provision of these Terms of Use is found to be invalid by any tribunal having competent jurisdiction, the invalidity of such provision shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of these Terms of Use, which shall remain in full force and effect. Any waiver of any portion of these Terms of Use or of any right or remedy of BiblioCommons must be in writing in order to be effective.

10. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

To the extent permitted by law and to the extent that BiblioCommons or Participating Libraries are otherwise found responsible for any damages, BiblioCommons or Participating Libraries are responsible for actual damages only. To the extent permitted by law, in no event shall BiblioCommons, its affiliates, its licensors, its suppliers, participating libraries, or any third parties mentioned at the Service be liable for any incidental, indirect, exemplary, punitive or consequential damages, lost profits, or damages resulting from lost data or business interruption resulting from the use of or inability to use the Service or the Content, regardless of the theory of law upon which such claim may be based, including warranty, contract, tort, and whether or not BiblioCommons or Participating Libraries are advised of the possibility of such damages. To the extent permitted by law, the remedies stated in these Terms of Use are exclusive and are limited to those expressly provided for in these Terms of Use.

Any action or claim related to these Terms of Use or arising from your use of the Service must be brought within twelve (12) months of the existence of the alleged facts giving rise to the action or claim.

11. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES

Neither BiblioCommons nor Participating Libraries make any representations with respect to the Service, including any representations related to results that may be obtained by using the Service. All use of the Service is at the sole risk of the user.

The BiblioCommons Service and Content are provided on an "as is" basis and BiblioCommons and Participating Libraries disclaim any and all warranties to the fullest extent permissible by law, including implied and/or statutory warranties, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, non-infringement of third parties' rights, and fitness for a particular purpose. Neither BiblioCommons nor Participating Libraries make any representations or warranties about (and specifically disclaim any responsibility for) the accuracy, completeness, security or timeliness of the Service or its content. No warranties may be made in relation to the website or its contents except as contained in these terms of use.

You agree and acknowledge that the limitations and exclusions of liability and warranty provided in these terms of use are fair and reasonable.

12. INDEMNITY

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless BiblioCommons and Participating Libraries their officers, directors, employees, agents, successors and assigns from and against any third party claims, actions or demands (including, without limitation, costs, damages and reasonable legal and accounting fees) alleging or resulting from, or in connection with your use of this Service or your breach of these Terms of Use.

13. JURISDICTION AND FORUM

Your use of the Service and these Terms of Use shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Province of Ontario, Canada, excluding (a) its conflicts of law rules and (b) the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (including all related protocols). Any dispute, claim or action related to your use of the Service or under these Terms of Use shall be resolved by arbitration under the Arbitration Act (Ontario) by a single arbitrator sitting in Toronto, Ontario, in the English language, and you further agree and submit to the exercise of personal jurisdiction of such arbitrator(s) for the purpose of litigating any such claim or action.

Notwithstanding any provision of this section of the Terms of Use, We shall be free to seek interim or injunctive relief before any court of competent jurisdiction for a breach or a threatened breach of any provision of these Terms of Use that may, in our absolute discretion, require an urgent remedy. For the purposes of the foregoing, you expressly attorn to the jurisdiction of the courts of the Province of Ontario and the Federal Court of Canada sitting in Toronto, Ontario and waive any claim or defence of inconvenient forum.

You agree that the limitations on liability, disclaimer of warranties and indemnity provisions of this Terms of Use are for the benefit of BiblioCommons, our Participating Libraries and their successors.

14. COMPLIANCE WITH LAW

You agree to use the Service in strict compliance with all applicable laws and regulations and in a fashion that does not, in our sole judgment, negatively reflect on the goodwill or reputation of BiblioCommons or Participating Libraries. You shall take no actions which would cause BiblioCommons or Participating Libraries to be in violation of any laws, rulings or regulations applicable to BiblioCommons or Participating Libraries.

15. COMPLETE AGREEMENT

Except as expressly provided in a separate written agreement between you and BiblioCommons, these terms of use constitute the entire agreement between you and BiblioCommons with respect to your use of the website.

16. CHANGE OF AGREEMENT

We are constantly innovating in order to provide the best possible experience for our users. You agree that we may change our services or Terms of Use at any time without specific notice to you. We will attempt to provide you notice of significant changes to these Terms of Use. Your continued use of the Service signifies your acceptance of any revised Terms of Use.

Without specific notice to you, we may change, supplement, delete or update any portion of the Service; or establish or change, at any time, general practices and limits concerning our products and services.

17. TERMINATION

You agree that We, in our sole discretion, may terminate or suspend your use of the Service and Content at any time regardless of whether the Service remains accessible by others. We may discontinue the Service at any time without liability to you.

18. OUR ADDRESS

BiblioCommons
461 King Street West, third floor
Toronto, ON M5V 1K4, Canada
tel. 647 436 6381

19. NOTICE AND PROCEDURE FOR MAKING CLAIMS OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide BiblioCommons’s copyright agent the written information specified below. Please note that this procedure is exclusively for notifying us that your copyrighted material has been infringed. BiblioCommons’s copyright agent can be reached via email at copyright@bibliocommons.com, or at the above mailing address. Please provide:

  • An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest;
  • A description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed upon;
  • A description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the site;
  • Your address, telephone number, and e-mail address;
  • A statement by you that you have a good-faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
  • A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf.

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