September 2024
Library Editorial Policy
Purpose
Christchurch City Libraries Ngā Kete Wānanga o Ōtautahi’s purpose is to connect people, inspire discovery and enrich communities. Christchurch City Libraries actively practices biculturalism and supports diversity and aims to be representative of all our Christchurch communities. We create and update content for websites and social media to support these goals.
The editorial policy covers what we publish and where it is published, and how we prioritise, create, and promote content.
Policy scope
Who
The policy applies to all library kaimahi | staff creating online content. The Library Web Team has the final editorial responsibility for what is published on our channels.
What
The editorial policy covers any content created by Christchurch City Libraries kaimahi that is published on a library website or social media channel. Content provided by third party providers is out of the scope of this policy.
This policy aligns with:
- The IFLA-UNESCO Public Library Manifesto
- The Public Libraries of New Zealand Strategic Framework
- Christchurch City Libraries Ngā Kete Wānanga o Ōtautahi and Christchurch City Council’s plans, strategies, and policies.
Websites
Christchurch City Libraries websites include:
- https://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/
- http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/
- http://cinch.org.nz
- https://discoverywall.nz/
- https://canterburystories.nz/
Newsletters
We send out newsletters via email under the terms of the Conditions of Membership. Newsletters aim to keep customers up-to-date with information on events, services, collections and resources.
Social media channels
Our social media channels include:
- http://facebook.com/ChristchurchCityLibraries
- http://x.com/ChristchurchLib
- https://www.instagram.com/christchurchlib/
- http://flickr.com/photos/christchurchcitylibraries
- http://flickr.com/photos/cclstaff
Policy statement
Content
We reflect organisational priorities
We make and update content in line with the priorities of Christchurch City Council and Christchurch City Libraries, considering strategic priorities, levels of service, and community outcomes. Levels of Service include community spaces, collections, access to information, and programmes and events. Our priorities include:
- Te Tiriti o Waitangi, te ao Māori and te reo Māori
- Sustainability
- Library services
- Library collections
- Library events
- eResources
- Digital Heritage
- Reader advisory
- Communities of interest and groups including tamariki – kids, rangatahi – teens, older adults, neurodivergent people, the LGBTQIA+ community, Pasifika communities, newcomers to Christchurch, genealogists and family history researchers, students, business customers, and creatives.
Our objectives are:
- To create content and library resources that are relevant to our communities
- To reflect the culture of Christchurch City
- To provide access to resources that empower users to discover, connect and play.
We support Māori content
Providing Māori content is a priority, and we work with the relevant teams and people to create, update, and share Māori content with care and respect.
Our focus is local
Our content is focused on Christchurch, Banks Peninsula, and Canterbury, documenting and telling stories about our people and our city. We collaborate with local people and organisations to promote Ōtautahi voices.
We provide digital content
Christchurch City Libraries digitises material that contributes to the telling of stories on a particular topic. We make digitised items available from our websites. The Digitisation Policy supports the citizen-focused principles of the CCC Organisational Digital Strategy in particular the goal: To preserve and transfer heritage across generations:
- Digitisation of material from the Christchurch City Libraries’ archive and research collections provides access to items and collections that have limited site specific availability.
- Digitisation also highlights previously hidden items and collections in the archives and research collection; creating greater awareness of unique, scarce and fragile collections held by Christchurch City Libraries.
We use a publishing plan to guide content
We create and review original content in line with a monthly web publishing plan.
We produce a range of content
We prioritise content related to our Levels of Service (community spaces, collections, access to information, and programmes and events). It includes:
- Information about library resources — eResources, digitised content, services, new titles, reviews, awards, and reader advisory.
- Information about Christchurch and Canterbury today and in the past.
- Coverage of community-run events where the event has been identified on our Web Publishing Plan or is related to resources that we provide.
- Interviews, features, blog posts, reviews, local history and built heritage.
- Content created using media releases and other publicly available information.
- Captured images, audio and video.
Where possible, content is linked to other relevant printed or digital resources in the library collection.
Our information is correct
- Information is presented in a fair, balanced and accurate way.
- Content is reviewed before publication.
- We do not deliberately mislead or misinform readers.
We manage our content
All content is managed by the Digital Library Web Team. Content may be amended, edited or re-written to ensure it conforms with appropriate style, length and readability for library customers. Decisions regarding style and content rest with the Library Web Team.
Our content is reviewed regularly
We do our best to make information as accurate and relevant as possible, regularly reviewing and making necessary updates and removing out-of-date material.
When moving or deleting pages, we redirect visitors to a new location or to relevant alternative content. We update the content on our websites regularly, correcting any mistakes.
We use images carefully
We use images from our collection to illustrate written content, and regularly capture images of Christchurch and Canterbury to add to our collection for this purpose.
We use some images provided by individuals and organisations, and some copyright-free and purchased stock images.
We respect copyright
We respect copyright, only using copyright material with permission. We ask our customers to do the same.
We link to other sites
We link to other sites that contain content we believe to be relevant to our customers. Linking to a website does not constitute an endorsement of any kind. Christchurch City Libraries does not accept any responsibility for the content or condition of any external links on the site.
We don’t accept paid advertising
We do not accept paid advertising (including paid editorial content) on our websites.
Audience
We respect our audience
- We create and publish a wide range of material from different viewpoints.
- We may moderate, edit or remove comments that appear on our websites, blogs, and social media channels.
- We promote and encourage the ongoing use of information resources available at libraries, and create and present high-quality written, audio and video content.
We provide equity of access
We provide content that reflects the Māori worldview. We offer resources in various community languages. This supports libraries being a place where people are welcomed into, where each person is cared for, and rangatiratanga is respected.
We use plain language
We use and advocate the use of plain language. Plain language is clear, concise, well-structured writing that is focused on the reader, and appropriate to the audience.
Our information is accessible
We strive to make our websites and channels welcoming and inclusive to people with a wide range of abilities. In line with accessibility guidelines, we make our content accessible to as many people as possible, including those using assistive technologies such as screen-readers.
References and related documents
Download Library Editorial policy (September 2024) [181 KB PDF]
