Libreon Content Ratings (LCR) (1.0)
To address the limitations and confusion around conventional book categories like "Young-Adult" or "Adult," as well as the ever-sprawling disarray of genres, Libreon offers open-source, modern, and user-friendly content rating and guide systems. We aim to provide clear and objective information about a book's content, helping readers make informed decisions by removing the confusion plaguing current book categorization methods.
Libreon Content Rating (LCR) is an open-source system for rating book content; see the section "Copyright and License" below for more details.
This system is specifically focused on content that may be considered objectionable to consumers and is supplemented by the Libreon Content Guide (LCG) to describe other content features. The Libreon Content Rating system aims to inform, not judge. It is designed with a few principles in mind, including avoiding confusion with other rating systems used worldwide and adding details specifically for books and other printed materials such as graphic novels and comics.
A review board is forming to help guide this system in the future as it's adopted at libraries and other organizations (more info to come).
How does it Work?
LCR is a very simple system with two parts: Rating and Qualifiers. Rating is the overall Rating for the creative work (such asC for Children). Qualifiers are used to identify objectionable content within the creative work; if a qualifier is not specified, the objectionable content is not present in that work.
To rate a creative work, simply:
- Review all the qualifiers, creating a list of each that applies to the work.
- The resulting list of Qualifiers determines the Rating—of those qualifiers; the Rating is the highest of all the qualifier ratings in the list.
For example: if this list includes four qualifiers rated
C, and one qualifier ratedY, then the overall Rating isY. - When creating a Rating Box, some qualifiers cancel others out, so only list the "top" of each qualifier tree (this is usually explained with each qualifier).
Learn More
Ratings
Qualifiers
Qualifiers focus on objectionable behaviors and references, such as those typically concerning in nature. If a qualifier is NOT included, the behaviors/references in question are absent from the content.Each qualifier is listed with the lowest Rating in which it may be included (such as [T] for Teen). Where qualifiers encompass a simpler qualifier, only the most severe qualifier needs to be included. When considering the Rating, it must be equal to the highest age category of any content Qualifiers (for example, if the content contains a variety of G and T qualifiers but has one M qualifier, then the Rating must be M).
Substances
Violence
Language
Behavior and Themes
Bigotry
Abuse
Nudity
Romance
Sexuality
Footnotes
How to Use
Subject to the terms of the Copyright and License, you may use the LCR in the following manner.Calculating a Rating
Calculating a rating is a simple process. Review all the qualifiers and include any that are applicable. The resulting list is included in the Rating Box. Each qualifier comes with a Rating — whichever is the highest is the overall rating for that content.
Formatting and Styling
Typically, when listing a Rating, do it with the Rating Box.Where styling is specified, it's described in CSS terms, but any equivalent styling may be used. Full styles may be explored in the LCR CSS Style Sheet.
Font
EB Garamond.Rating Letter Badge
The simple letter Rating Badge with no qualifiers is appropriate for use on front covers but should be accompanied on the back cover with a full rating box, including qualifiers. The Rating Badge should not be used without either a link to the Rating Box online, or the Rating Box on the back cover.
The Rating Badge includes the letter rating with a heading for the rating name and a footer for the label "Libreon." Borders are 1rem, character size is 4rem, and the heading and footer are 0.5rem. The corner radius is 0.5rem. The preferred print size is 25mm wide, but it may be 20mm; and the height is squared, or extended to match the height of the full Rating Box (if connected to a Rating Box). Example:
Rating Box
The Rating Box shows the Rating Letter Badge and Qualifiers. The Rating Box is formatted as normal, except the box radius is only on the left side. To the right of the box is an extended box, which includes the Rating summary in bold font, below which the qualifiers are listed. This box may be sized to best use the available space. Example:
Rating Colors
Ratings may be printed in black on white or with a color matching the rating (optional). Color variations may be made as long as they remain similar to the following RGB values:- all: #19A974
- youth: #357EDD
- teen: #5E2CA5
- mature: #FFB700
- explicit: #FF4136
Return link
If used in content supporting URL linking (web browser, ePub, etc), the Rating Box and/or Rating Box should include a link back to this page.CSS Styles
Examples of using these in HTML are available using the LCR CSS Style Sheet (note: they must be wrapped in a container with the.libreon class).
Badge/Box Generator
Coming Soon...Copyright and License
Libreon, Libreon Content Rating (LCR), and Libreon Content Guide (LCG) are copyright © and Trademark 2023 Protos, LLC.
LCR and LCG are open-source rating systems. Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person or entity to use the Libreon Content Rating system without restriction, in perpetuity, irrevocably, subject to the following conditions:
- "Trade Dress" and the requirements for presentation and look and feel are preserved.
- Definitions of Ratings, Qualifiers, and Feature Labels remain unaltered.
USE OF LCR IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE LCR OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE LCR.
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