Blog code(s) of conduct: some legal considerations for health librarians

This is the fourth installment of the social media column for the Journal of the Canadian Health Libraries Association / Journal de l’Association des bibliotheques de la sante du Canada (JCHLA / JABSC). It is a brief look at the legal issues associated with blogging and what might constitute a more ethically informed use of blogging technologies. However, its main purpose is to explore the parameters of free speech on blogs and some important legal concepts such as defamation of character, compensatory damages (where someone has injured another’s reputation), and using the facts as a defense. The challenge here is to strike a balance between adopting judicious restraint on blogs while permitting ample freedom for fair comment. To summarize, the goal is to move health bloggers (and readers) towards an ethical code of conduct – a timely issue for our field. In 2011, the use of health and medical blogs, – not to mention Facebook, Twitter, and other social media,– has made it easier to communicate with health professionals from around the world [2]. Library blogs are used in many library settings to push information out to users about library services and community events that causes some critics to refer to them as ‘‘shovelware’’ [3]. But blogs are used for multiple purposes, such as requesting feedback from library users and talking about important issues of the day. For many in the information sphere, the exchange facilitated by blogs is critical to forging relationships with users and building a ‘‘digital brand’’.