Email

 Use of email should be considered as is use of any other office equipment: it is primarily for library-related work. It is acceptable to use it sparingly for messages, as you would use the telephone.

Internal Use

1. General

a. Check your account for messages several times daily.

b. You may stay logged on as long as is necessary and/or convenient but always log off at the end of the day. Leaving an account logged on overnight may result in its having insufficient funds for operation the following day.

c. The orientation checklist for new employees will include notifying Systems to establish an email account.

d. The termination checklist will include notifying Systems to close an employee's email account.

2. Disk Storage

a. Mini-disk storage on the mainframe is the biggest single expense associated with email usage. It is therefore important that you use the disk space allotted efficiently.

1. Read messages, print them out if desired, then discard.

2. Do not store large numbers of messages unless you really need to refer to or act on them later.

a. In particular, discard messages sent to all staff in your unit or in the library. If you wait to do this "housecleaning" until your mini-disk has become full, it is more difficult to deal with and you may lose some of your data.

3. Sending files

a. Long text documents (i.e., those longer than several screens) should be sent as files rather than mail.

1. These too should be discarded when the need for them is passed.

2. It is also possible on some machines to download text files to disk for use on microcomputers.

3. Other kinds of files (such as NAMES files or programs) should be retained online.

4. Local LISTSERV

a. All library users are part of a bulletin board list named UFLIBS, and also part of one or more sublists.

b. Anyone may send a message to the entire list or any sublist, but discretion is recommended, due to the expense involved in the sending and storing of multiple copies of the same information.

5. Links

a. Documentation such as LMG minutes may be posted on special linking accounts set up by Systems

b. Staff may "link" to these accounts and read the information posted there by using a special program such as LINKDIR.

1. This saves the expense of individual copies, and is the preferred method of communication for all non-urgent, informative documents addressed to large groups.

External Use

1. General

a. Our local email runs through NERDC's VM (Virtual Machine) environment, NERVM. NERVM is a node on two larger, national networks, BITNET, and the Internet. Through these it is possible to exchange messages with users outside UF.

2. Lists

a. A number of electronic bulletin boards (known also as "lists") have been set up on various topics, including those of interest to library staff. Their operation is similar to that of the UFLIBS list.

b. After subscribing to one, all messages "posted" on the list account are forwarded to all subscribers as electronic mail messages.

c. Depending on the size of the list and the frequency of postings, the quantity of list- generated email can quickly become overwhelming and fill up mini-disk space; it is therefore important to read and/or print out such messages immediately and then delete them.

d. Contributions to these lists should be temperate and selective, based on acknowledgement of the fact that personal and institutional reputations will emerge from this highly visible medium.

3. External File Transfers

a. Both networks provide access to banks of files that are available for downloading.

1. There is no single source of information about these resources.

2. They include archives of past postings on lists, non-commercial software, documentation, working papers, newsletters, files of numeric data, etc.

3. Internet files are accessed using FTP (File Transfer Protocol).

a. You "log on" to the remote computer as a guest, search the directory of available files, and give a command that sends the desired file to your account.

b. On BITNET, the LISTSERV software also serves as a manager for files.

b. Some files may be very large and take literally hours to transfer. They may also fill up your mini-disk space. You are advised to download one file at a time, print it, then discard it before attempting to download another.

Security and Privacy

1. NERDC requires that you change passwords periodically, and will warn you in advance of the deadline.

2. Instructions on how to do this are given at logon.

a. Passwords are for your use only; do not write your password down, tell anyone what it is, or set it to something obvious.

b. You are responsible for any use made of your account.

c. Report any request for your password or request that you change your password to Systems.

3. As far as Systems is concerned, your account is private

a. Systems makes no attempt to in any way inspect any files, including mail, on any accounts, unless there is some technical problem. No one is given access to the account of another.

b. The way the security system is set up, Systems staff cannot determine what your password is unless you tell them. They can reset your password to something new, but you will immediately know this the next time you sign on.

1. Password security is maintained for a variety of reasons, the most important being professional ethics and system security: both are compromised if anyone can access your account without your permission/knowledge.

4. In general, nothing put on any computer which is controlled by others is truly private. Those who have control of a shared machine always have ways of accessing its files which are undetectable. Although Library Systems staff cannot do this, people in NERDC can.

a. This is not to suggest that they spend their time snooping, but you should never put anything in a computer you don't own and control which you are unwilling to see on the front page of the paper. This is a reality of the electronic age.

b. Encryption will help some (when it arrives), but no shared computer file is ever completely secure.