Terms of Use

Last updated: February 26, 2009

Welcome to the Ontario Library Association’s reForestation service, provided to you by BiblioCommons. This service will help you track your Forest of Reading titles, and discover new titles and communities. This page comprises our Terms of Use agreement. If you visit or use this BiblioCommons service or related BiblioCommons services (jointly the “Service”), you must accept the conditions in this document.

Please read the Terms of Use carefully before using the Service.

1. Registration

Is Registration Necessary?

It is not necessary to register to use the basic search tools on the Service. However, registration allows you to take advantage of the full suite of offerings that comprise the Service, including the ability to receive personalized recommendations, contribute ratings and reviews, and communicate electronically with other users.

Eligibility

Registration for use of the Service is open to anyone who adheres to these Terms of Use. For safety reasons, patrons under the age of thirteen (13) years will be restricted from using the service to communicate directly with other patrons.

2. BiblioCommons Privacy Statement

BiblioCommons (“We”) believes that it is very important to protect the privacy of your personal information. We have established security measures and controls to ensure that your information is only used as you wish it to be used. Please review the BiblioCommons Privacy Statement for the service you are using; it forms a part of this agreement.

3. Personal Responsibility

All Visitors

All visitors to the site, registered or unregistered, agree not to:

disguise the origin of information transmitted through the Service and/or the origin of the computer or website by which you connect to the Service;
use or access any service, information, application or software available via the Service in a manner not expressly permitted by us;
access or attempt to access areas of the Service that are restricted to registered users of the Service if you are not a registered user;
use or access the Service or any of our Systems in a way that, in our judgment, adversely affects the performance or function of the Services or interferes with the ability of authorized parties to access our Systems or Services;
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 Content);
"frame" the Service or portion thereof so that the Service or Content appears in the same window with a portion of another website.

Registered Users

Registered Users are responsible for ensuring that their accounts are used in keeping with the terms of this agreement.

If you choose to register, you agree to:

provide and maintain accurate, current and complete personal information;
maintain the security of your password and username
not register for more than one account.

4. License and Ownership of the Content

The services and content provided on the Service ("BiblioCommons Content") are comprised of materials contributed by other users ("User Content"), and additional service and contents provided by BiblioCommons ("Service Content"). All BiblioCommons Content is protected by law, and its use is governed by the rights described here.

The Service Content is the intellectual property of the Ontario Library Association or participating libraries (jointly “Participating Libraries”), or of BiblioCommons, or of 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. You may only use Service Content in accordance with the specific rights allowed under this Terms of Use. All other rights are reserved.

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.

Links to the BiblioCommons Service

We grant our authorized users the right to create links to the BiblioCommons Service, provided the link does not portray BiblioCommons, Participating Libraries, affiliates, or their products or services in a false, misleading, derogatory, or otherwise offensive manner, or in a manner that might be construed as an endorsement. We reserve the right to object to or have removed any link that is determined by us, in our sole judgment, to be inappropriate, inconsistent with the Service's or our Participating Libraries image and reputation, or otherwise creates an undue burden on us or the Service.

5. User Content

Registered Users will have the opportunity to upload or publish ("Post") material to the Service such as ratings, reviews, commentary, or conversations ("User Content"). You may keep portions of your User Content private, or you may make it publicly available for the benefit of yourself and others.

Rights

Though registered Users retain ownership of any content that they produce, the public sharing of User Content is an important objective of this Service. When you make your User Content public, you grant a license to other Users to make use of that material under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 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.

You will have the right to use User Content contributed by others according to the license which other Users have attached to that material.

Unless otherwise indicated, when you choose to make your Posted material public, you grant, represent and warrant that you have the right to grant the Ontario Library Association and BiblioCommons 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 User Content.

The Service makes it possible for you to feature public User Content hosted on BiblioCommons on outside websites or media. This is encouraged. Pages on other websites or media which display User Content hosted or originally hosted on the BiblioCommons Service must provide a link back to BiblioCommons from each extract to an original presentation of that material on a BiblioCommons webpage.

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. Please do not Post anything that you do not have the right to Post. We may, at our discretion, disable and/or terminate the accounts of users who are repeat infringers.

Notwithstanding your responsibilities, 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 posted material in public view, and may, at our discretion, remove material from public view for reasons that may include, but are not limited to, redundancy, timeliness, and the potential to offend.

Suggestions

We accept comments, ideas, concepts, or techniques for new services or products through the Service ("Suggestions"). Any Suggestions received will not be considered confidential, We will have no obligation to keep such information confidential, and by submitting any Suggestions, you are granting us an unrestricted, irrevocable, world-wide, royalty-free right to use, communicate, reproduce, publish, display, distribute and exploit such Suggestions in any manner.

6. Appropriate Use

The Service is intended to provide a safe, respectful community that welcomes diverse perspectives. In order to maintain this environment:

Remember that that the Service is used by Users with a broad range of ages and sensibilities.
You are welcome to Post about why you disagree with another's view, but do not personally attack or defame another person.
Avoid any behaviour that may restrict or inhibit any other person from using or enjoying the Service, or that may expose Users, Participating Libraries, or BiblioCommons to any harm.

Specifically, you agree without limitation not to use the Service to upload, post, transmit, share, store or otherwise make available any content that:

is false or misleading;
is harmful, threatening, unlawful, defamatory, abusive, inflammatory, harassing, vulgar, obscene, fraudulent, invasive, hateful;
infringes on intellectual property rights;
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;
use or attempt to use another's account without our authorization, or create a false identity on the Service;
solicit personal information from anyone under 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. Such tools have significant limitations and the English version of any translated content is considered the definitive version.

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, delict, 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. For Residents of Quebec

The parties declare that they have required that these Terms of Use and all documents related to the Service, either present or future, be drawn up in the English language only. Les parties déclarent par les présentes qu'ils exigent que cette entente et tous les documents y afférents, soit pour le présent ou l'avenir, soient rédigés en langue anglaise seulement.

17. Change of Agreement

We reserve the right to modify or update the Terms of Use at any time without specific notice to you. However, we will provide notice of significant changes in these Terms of Use and may require registered users to specifically agree to such changes. 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.

18. 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.

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