General Terms and Conditions | Sentobib

Article 1: Definitions

• “Client”: the natural person or legal entity, partnerships without legal personality, as well as their representative, authorised agent or employee, who has entered into or wishes to enter into an agreement with Sentobib.
• “Respondent”: the individual who completes a survey of a library.
• “Sentobib”: the name of the research project for libraries, facilitated by Sento Group BV (“Sento”).
• “Agreement(s)”: all agreements used by Sento Group BV in relation to the Client, to which these Terms and Conditions apply.
• “Use”: the use agreed upon with the Client of digital questionnaires, web space, database space, communication materials and all other services and products provided by Sentobib.

Article 2: General

These terms and conditions (“Terms and Conditions”) apply both to the provision of services and to the sale of goods by Sento Group BV, hereinafter referred to as “Sento”.

By placing the order, the Terms and Conditions are considered to be accepted in full and without any reservation by the Client. The Terms and Conditions and each specific Agreement constitute the complete and sole Agreement between the parties and replace all previous oral or written agreements, proposals, promises, arrangements or communications relating to the subject matter of the specific Agreement. Terms and conditions of the Client do not apply. The obligation of Sento to deliver the services or products ordered by the Client at the price determined by Sento constitutes the principal obligation of the Agreement.

The Terms and Conditions have been primarily drafted in English. The English version is the governing agreement. For the convenience of the Client, these Terms and Conditions have been translated into Dutch, French, German, Spanish and Italian. These translated versions are not governing nor binding; no rights can be derived from them, including in the event of translation errors. In the event of a conflict between the English version and a translated version, the English version shall always prevail, including the annexes and the pricing table.

Article 3: Duration and termination

Unless otherwise agreed between the parties, the Agreement is entered into for a period of 1 year from the start date of the Agreement.

The free Member plan does not involve automatic invoicing. Access remains valid for six (6) months from the activation of the survey. At the end of this period, access is automatically terminated, unless the library chooses to switch to a paid plan. The library may also terminate its participation early at any time via the platform.

Unilateral termination by the Client does not give rise to any refund or compensation of any kind for payments already made or still due. If the Agreement is terminated, the claims of Sento against the Client become immediately payable and all amounts already invoiced and still to be invoiced remain due, without any obligation of restitution.

One account per library. Each library may have only one active Member account. The creation of multiple accounts by or on behalf of the same library - for example to circumvent the respondent limit or to restart a free participation after expiry of a period - is considered abuse. In such cases, Sento reserves the right to block, merge or delete the accounts concerned, without prior notice and without any right to compensation for the Client.

After termination. After termination of the Agreement, for whatever reason, access to the platform and the dashboard is closed. The Client may request a copy of its own collected research data from Sento up to 30 calendar days after termination, which Sento will provide in the form of an Excel file or other common format. After this period, Sento is no longer obliged to keep the Client’s data available, without prejudice to Sento’s right to retain anonymised and aggregated data for scientific and benchmarking purposes in accordance with Article 12.

Article 4: Prices

The prices communicated by Sento on the website and through other channels are always subject to obvious typographical or translation errors. Individual quotes are revocable and valid for 60 days, unless otherwise stated in the quote. All prices are in euros and exclusive of VAT, unless otherwise indicated, and are payable as stated on the invoice. Invoices are payable by bank transfer. Unless otherwise agreed, the prices relating to the provision of services are calculated for a period of one year. At the start of this period, the full price is paid in accordance with Article 5. Sento may offer the possibility of alternative payment terms; this is clearly indicated as an option when confirming participation.

The provisions of this article only apply to the paid plans (Pro and Ambassador). The Member plan (Free) is entirely free of charge, unless the library subsequently chooses to switch to a paid plan.

The prices relating to the provision of services may be changed by Sento at any time during the term of the Agreement. The Client will be informed of this via the website and also individually through personally directed communication. The changed prices will be payable by the Client after two months from the individual notification, unless the Client has exercised the option to terminate the Agreement free of charge and without justification. Termination by the Client must be made by registered mail or electronically via https://www.sentobib.eu within the thirty calendar days following the individual notification of the changed prices.

Any promotions or discounts apply per Client and cannot be combined with other promotions or discounts. In the event of abuse of promotions by the Client, for example but not limited to deliberately creating multiple accounts, Sento reserves all rights and may, for example but not limited to, not apply promotions.

Article 5: Delivery, payment and protest periods

The delivery periods stated by Sento are indicative and not binding, unless expressly agreed otherwise. The periods are always expressed in working days. A reasonable delay in the delivery of services or products can in no event give rise to cancellation of an order or to compensation.

Any complaint regarding the delivery, of whatever nature, must be communicated in writing by the Client to Sento within 8 working days from the delivery of the goods or the start date of the performance of the services. Any complaints regarding delivery or performance cannot be used as a pretext to suspend or delay payment of invoices. The absence of a written protest of an invoice within 8 working days from its dispatch constitutes the irrevocable acceptance of the invoice and the amounts, products and services stated therein.

Invoices must be paid within one month of the invoice date. If the Client has not paid in full 14 calendar days after the payment term, the Client is in default after the first reminder in which the consequences of non-payment are stated. If the Client is in default, this has the following consequences: (i) statutory interest is due on the outstanding amount; (ii) the Client owes 15% of the principal sum in collection costs, or €40 if this amount exceeds 15% of the principal sum, or, if the Client is a consumer, the amount due under applicable legislation; (iii) the provision of services to the Client may be suspended without further warning until the outstanding amounts, including interest, have been settled; (iv) Sento has the right to dissolve or terminate the Agreement at its discretion pursuant to Article 3.

The provisions of this article only apply where a payment is due (Pro or Ambassador plan).

Article 6: Code of conduct, service changes and notice/takedown

The Client shall at all times cooperate in good faith with Sento to facilitate the provision of services. The Client shall at all times use the services in accordance with the General Terms of Use of Sento, as amended from time to time. If the Client does not comply with its obligations arising from these Terms and Conditions, the Client agrees to bear all costs and charges related to the additional services performed by Sento to remedy any problems resulting from the Client’s failure to meet its obligations. Sento cannot in any way be held liable for technical or other disruptions both within and outside the Sento network. The Client is solely responsible for the proper use of the goods, service or software, taking into account the specifications and instructions of Sento.

Right to modify the service. Sento reserves the right to modify, update or adapt the platform, the questionnaire, the dashboard functionalities and all other components of the service at any time, without prior individual consent of the Client. This includes, among other things, changes to the standard questionnaire (in collaboration with the scientific partners), addition or removal of features, and technical updates. Sento will make reasonable efforts to inform the Client of material changes, but the absence of such notification does not affect the validity of the change.

Availability. The service is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. Sento strives for the highest possible availability of the platform but does not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free operation. Planned maintenance, technical disruptions, updates or circumstances beyond Sento’s control may lead to temporary unavailability. Sento cannot be held liable for damage resulting from temporary unavailability of the service.

Article 7: Right of withdrawal

The services of Sentobib are exclusively intended for professional use by libraries and library institutions. By registering on the platform, the Client confirms that they are acting in a professional capacity and not as a consumer within the meaning of Book VI of the Code of Economic Law. The right of withdrawal is therefore not applicable to the provision of these services.

If a Client is nevertheless qualified as a consumer, the Client acknowledges that the provision of services commences at their express request upon activation of the platform and that, at the start of the provision of services, they waive the right of withdrawal insofar as the law permits.

Article 8: Liability

Sento is not liable in the context of the formation or performance of the Agreement. Sento is also expressly not liable for (but not limited to) indirect damage, consequential damage, lost profits, missed savings, damage due to business stagnation, etc. The Client must at all times first assess all information, purchased services and delivered results for correctness themselves and make a well-considered responsible judgement. The Client is also the ultimate party responsible for distributing the survey or questionnaire in a correct manner and for ensuring that sufficient and varied responses are obtained to draw conclusions from.

Liability cap. Without prejudice to the foregoing, the total liability of Sento towards the Client - on whatever grounds - is in any event limited to the total amount that the Client has actually paid to Sento in the twelve (12) months preceding the event causing the damage in the context of the Agreement. For the free Member plan, this cap is nil (€0).

The Client is liable towards Sento for damage caused by a fault or shortcoming attributable to them. The Client indemnifies Sento against claims regarding non-compliance with the code of conduct in these Terms and Conditions in the use of the services or goods by or with the consent of the Client.

Article 9: Intellectual property rights

All intellectual property rights relating to the products and/or services as well as the designs, software, documentation and all other materials developed and/or used in the preparation or performance of the Agreement between Sento and the Client, as well as the data resulting from and collected through it, vest exclusively in Sento or its suppliers. The delivery of products and/or services does not constitute any transfer of intellectual property rights. The Client only obtains a non-exclusive and non-transferable right of use for the products and results of the services for the agreed purposes. The Client also has the right to request a one-time copy of their data from Sento. Sento reserves the right to retain all information collected through the survey for the Client so that trend measurement(s) can be visualised in the Client’s dashboard. The collected data will also be provided anonymously to the universities and institutions involved in the research. The Client shall not, without prior written consent of Sento, disclose, reproduce or make available to a third party, in whole or in part, the products and results of the services in any manner.

Sento is permitted to take technical measures to protect its products, services or goods. If Sento has secured these products, services or goods by means of technical protection, the Client is not permitted to remove or circumvent this protection, except if and insofar as mandatory law dictates otherwise.

Usage licence for communication materials. Sento grants the Client a non-exclusive, non-transferable and revocable licence to use the communication materials, logos, QR codes and visual elements made available by Sentobib exclusively for the promotion of the Client’s own Sentobib survey to their own library audience. The Client may not modify, adapt or use these materials for purposes other than those for which they are intended, unless with prior written consent of Sento. Upon termination of the Agreement, this licence expires immediately and the Client must cease the use of all Sentobib materials and trademarks.

Article 10: Force majeure

Force majeure events (such as but not limited to: internet failure, servers, systems, societal circumstances, …) shall release Sento, for the duration of such event, from its obligations under these Terms and Conditions, provided that Sento informs the Client in writing or by email and describes the force majeure, and immediately resumes the performance of the relevant obligations when and insofar as the force majeure event has ceased. The Client shall have no right to claim compensation for non-performance by Sento of any of its contractual obligations as a result of a force majeure event.

Article 11: Personal data and GDPR

11.1 Personal data of the respondent

The questionnaire completed by respondents does not contain any questions requesting personal data or identification data. At no time and in no way are questions asked or data collected that can be traced back to the identity of the respondent. Completing the questionnaire is therefore at all times completely anonymous. Due to the anonymous nature, there is no possibility of determining who completed a particular survey, and it is therefore not possible to request to view, modify or delete answers after completing the survey.

Within the meaning of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Client may never process personal data within the framework of Sentobib using the services, products or goods of Sento. The Client hereby guarantees not to use the delivered services or goods for the processing of personal data and indemnifies Sento against all damage or claims based on the assertion that any processing of personal data using the services or goods would be unlawful. (see also “adding own questions”, Article 13)

No personal data is collected for the prize draw either. The survey system randomly selects winners from the respondents. Respondents who have won receive a separate message after completing the survey, with a unique code and a request to contact the research team via an email address. Winners may at any time and upon simple request by email or letter to Sento Group BV ask to view, modify or delete their personal data.

11.2 Personal data of the Client

Sento collects only the minimum necessary personal data of the Client to enable the proper functioning of its systems and the correct handling of the research. When registering the library for participation, the name, first name and email address of the contact person of the library wishing to participate in the research are requested. The contact person must create a password themselves to access the system in combination with their email address. Sento will, during the course of the research, occasionally keep the contact person informed about the research via the provided email address. The contact person may indicate at any time that they no longer wish to receive these update emails. Only emails necessary for the processing of invoicing cannot be refused.

The contact person, once logged into the system, has the option to add other colleagues within the library to the research system. These additionally added persons receive an email with an invitation to confirm that they wish to follow up on the research for the library.

Contact persons may request to view, modify or delete their personal data (name, first name, email address) by simple notification via email (contact [at] sentobib [dot] eu). At least one contact address must remain available for the processing of any outstanding invoicing, as long as the invoice has not been settled.

11.3 Retention of data

The data about the library, the contact person and the collected research data itself are stored on servers in Europe, secured with adequate and standard security measures and backed up on a regular basis. In the event of data breaches or other forms of hacking, Sento Group commits to taking the necessary countermeasures as quickly as possible and to informing the clients and contact persons.

Article 12: Ownership of data

The collected data and contact details in the research are stored and processed by Sento Group. These data may be provided to the partners in the research, such as universities or sector organisations, in an anonymised form and for scientific analysis. This means that the research data provided to the partners are stripped of all links to the individual participating library. In this way, the academic partners and sector organisations can use the grouped and anonymised data to conduct scientific research and support the sector. Sento Group may transfer all data and information from the research to third parties at any time. The Client may request a copy of their own collected research data from Sento Group upon simple request, which will be provided in the form of an Excel file or other format.

Article 13: Personalised survey

Sentobib provides a system (form via website) through which the library can share basic information about its own offering and operations with the research team. Based on this information, the survey is personalised for the library, so that the relevant questions are asked to the respondents for that library. The library also has the option to add its own questions to the survey, for example for locally specific research questions. It is prohibited to ask for personal data (name, email address, address, …) of respondents in the custom questions. The research is fully anonymous and aligned with GDPR legislation; the addition of such questions requesting personal data would put the research for the library in violation of this legislation and the promised anonymity for the respondent.

Once the form for personalisation is submitted via the personalisation system, this information is final and the survey is programmed as such. Prior to submission, a message is displayed asking to confirm whether the information is correct and complete. Changes to the questionnaire are in principle no longer possible afterwards. The research team may be contacted if changes are still desired; the team will accommodate this to the extent possible. Once the survey is made known to the library’s audience and the collection of responses has started, no further changes are possible.

Article 14: Response, method and results

Sentobib provides a clear briefing outlining a number of options for promoting the survey to the library’s own audience, former visitors and non-visitors. Sentobib also makes available a variety of personalised communication materials. The library is free to choose from these and deploy these materials in its own communication channels. The personal survey link and QR code as well as several logos of the research are made available. The materials provided are suitable for printing, for example in the form of flyers or posters. The choice to have materials printed is free for the Client, who bears the printing costs. Flyers may not be distributed in the public domain (outside the library) and may not be thrown on public roads.

The call to participate in the survey is distributed by the library itself, with or without the help of the briefing and the communication materials provided. Sentobib cannot guarantee that responses will be achieved or how many respondents will be reached. The number of respondents can be consulted at any time on the results page (dashboard). There are no limits on the number of respondents a library may reach; for the free Member plan, a maximum of 100 respondents are displayed in the dashboard.

To further support and encourage the collection of responses, Sentobib provides ‘incentives’ for respondents. For every correctly and fully completed survey, 1 (one) square metre of endangered rainforest or natural area is saved through the recognised organisation World Land Trust. A maximum of 1,000 (one thousand) square metres per paying participating library is set. For the free plan, a maximum of 250 square metres applies. In addition, participants (respondents) in the survey have the chance to win one of the trips worth €1,000 (one thousand euros) that are drawn among participants. The full participation rules can be found on the start page of the survey for your library.

After the conclusion of the research, the participating library with the paid Ambassador plan receives a personal research report with the library’s own research results. This report also offers benchmarking with a group of comparable libraries within or outside the country, and with national or international results. No guarantees can therefore be given in advance regarding the composition of the ‘clusters’, the groups of libraries against which benchmarking will be possible. Sento is not responsible for the quality or quantity of the responses by the respondents, and is not responsible for errors. The Client is responsible for interpreting the results within the context of their own reality.

Article 15: Miscellaneous

The rights and obligations arising from this Agreement entered into with Sento for the Client may not be transferred to third parties, either partially or in full, without the prior written consent of Sento. If a provision of an Agreement entered into with Sento or its application becomes or is null and void or unenforceable for any party or circumstance, this shall not affect the remainder of the Agreement. Changes to contact details such as, for example, addresses, contact persons and email addresses of the Client must be communicated to Sento by the Client immediately. The log files and other electronic or non-electronic administration of Sento constitute full evidence of Sento’s statements and the version of any (electronic) communication received or stored by Sento is deemed authentic, subject to evidence to the contrary provided by the Client.

Transfer of the service. Sento has the right to transfer the Agreement, as well as the rights and obligations arising from it, in whole or in part to a third party - for example in the context of an acquisition, merger, restructuring or transfer of the Sentobib project - without prior consent of the Client. Sento will inform the Client within a reasonable period.

Discontinuation of the service. Sento reserves the right to discontinue the Sentobib service in whole or in part, subject to a notice period of three (3) months. In that case, the Client will be informed via the provided email address. Amounts already paid for the period after the effective discontinuation will be refunded pro rata. The Client may request a copy of their own data up to 30 calendar days after the discontinuation in accordance with Article 3.

Article 16: Applicable law and exclusive jurisdiction

Belgian law applies to this Agreement entered into with Sento. Unless otherwise prescribed by the rules of mandatory law, all disputes arising from the Agreement shall be submitted to the competent Belgian court for the judicial district in which Sento is established.

Annex A – Overview of plans

Population pricing table (annual fee, excl. VAT)

Facilitator of the study:
Sento Group BV - Jachthoornlaan 22, 2970 Schilde, Belgium
VAT BE0783936281 - IBAN BE35 7350 6047 4737 - BIC KREDBEBB

Published on 15/01/2026 - © 2026 Sento Group BV