The Library of Parliament of Canada’s Research Publications on Twitter

Terms of Use

The primary objective of the Library of Parliament of Canada’s Twitter accounts, @LoPResearch (in English) @BdPRecherche (in French), is to promote the research publications of the Parliamentary Information and Research Service.

Content

Both Library of Parliament (LOP) Twitter accounts are used to promote Research Publications. This channel complements the tools by which our readers are currently made aware of new and current LOP Research Publications. The Research Publications in question include, but are not limited to:

• Legislative Summaries
• HillNotes
• In Briefs
• Background Papers
• Trade and Investment Series

The two accounts are administered by the Research Publications Group (RPG) of the Reference and Strategic Analysis (RSA) Division at the Library of Parliament.

Following and unfollowing

Only those followers who do not comply with the Terms of Use will be removed or blocked.

The administrators of the two accounts do not commit to follow back their followers.

Direct messages and “@replies”

The LOP reads over “@replies” and direct messages from followers. The LOP will reply to comments, questions or messages received from the public when they pertain to the information published or relate to Parliament. When a message containing a more specific question is received from a parliamentarian or his/her staff, the LOP will reply privately (by email) or forward the request in the usual manner.

Only relevant, courteous comments will be accepted. Only messages written in English and French will be considered. The administrators reserve the right to take action when any follower writes messages containing any of the following:

• Racist, sexist or derogatory language
• Hate speech
• Sexually explicit content
• Personal or slanderous attacks
• Copyright violations (e.g., copying and pasting content without a source or without authorization)
• Privacy violations (e.g., posting private information such as telephone numbers or email addresses)
• Threats or harassment
• Spam messages
• Commercial promotions or releases
• Unlawful content or content pertaining to unlawful activities

The LOP reserves the right to ban, or even report, users whose messages contain any of the above.

In addition, the administrators reserve the right to reply to comments that may affect the image of the Library. These responses will be drafted in collaboration with the Library management.

Links to other websites

All links inserted in the LOP tweets are to be limited to pages on the Parliament of Canada’s public site.

Hashtags

The LOP reserves the right to use hashtags of interest to all parliamentarians.

Tweet frequency

The tweet frequency varies widely, depending on the parliamentary calendar. The LOP is not committed to sending a predetermined number of tweets per week.

Availability

While the Senate and the House of Commons are sitting, the LOP will update and monitor the Library Research Publications Twitter accounts during business hours – 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (ET), Monday to Friday. Other times, the LOP will update and monitor the accounts during business hours, Monday to Thursday only.

Updates are also subject to downtime that may be out of the LOP’s control, because Twitter servers are managed by a third party. As such, the LOP accepts no responsibility for the Twitter network becoming unresponsive or unavailable.

Retweets

The administrators of the Library Twitter accounts do not retweet messages from other users.

Official languages

The Twitter interface is available in both of Canada’s official languages. The language may be set in each user’s account preferences.

The LOP respects the Official Languages Act and is committed to ensuring that its information products are available in both English and French and are of equal quality. Users can simply view the appropriate Twitter account: in English or in French.

Comments and questions requiring a response are to receive a reply in both official languages.

Copyright

Information posted by is subject to the Copyright Act of Canada.

Accessibility

A more accessible version of Twitter is located at www.accessibletwitter.com.

Twitter is administered by an independent service provider and as such is not subject to the Parliament of Canada’s policy on accessible websites. Anyone encountering difficulty accessing the information on our Twitter accounts should contact the Library of Parliament so that the information can be provided in another format.

Confidentiality

Twitter is a third-party service provider. Users are encouraged to read the Twitter Privacy Policy.

The LOP respects the privacy of its followers. Information that is shared with the proposed Twitter accounts is used only for the purpose for which it was provided and is kept in accordance with information management practices. Information provided may be used for security or other internal purposes.

As a best practice, users are advised not to share personal information, such as home addresses and telephone numbers, photographs containing images of identifiable individuals or any other information consisting of personal information as defined in section 3 of the Privacy Act.

Questions about the Library Twitter accounts

For any questions regarding the use of the Library Twitter accounts, guidelines and its administration, please contact the Library of Parliament.