ListServ, All Employees Email
and Internet/Intranet Posting
Policy

Purpose:  This policy sets guidelines for use of Lewis-Clark State College-provided tools for electronic communication to the college’s faculty, staff, and students. These guidelines are established to assure consistency in the type of information authorized for general college dissemination, assure that the appropriate technology tool is used, and to set consistent formatting standards. 

This policy is not intended to govern use of e-mail or related technology tools for communication with an individual or small group, nor is it intended to establish overall appropriate use guidelines for the college. Those guidelines are provided in the Idaho State and Lewis-Clark State College Appropriate Use of Technology Policies and Guidelines.   

Technology Tool Selection:  Lewis-Clark State College has numerous technology tools available to disseminate information to students, faculty, and staff and the community.  The four primary mechanisms are:

1. Student ListServ
2. All campus/college e-mails (All Exchange, etc.)
3. LCSC Internet Website Homepage, News Section, and Events Calendar
4. LCSC Intranet Website (Announcements)

Each of these tools should be considered whenever general information is to be sent to a large group of college employees and/or students. Users will initially determine the appropriate tool(s) to use for their communication. All information submitted must comply with the LCSC Appropriate Use of Technology Guideline. Criteria for selecting the appropriate tool are:

1.) Student ListServ: Anyone wishing to disseminate information electronically to students must submit the information (via email) to Infostudent@Lcwarriormail.com by 2PM the previous work day (M-F). Items disseminated via ListServ are subject to the following criteria:

• The topic is relevant to a majority of the members of the ListServ group and cannot easily be limited in distribution to a specific personnel or group.
• The topic is directly related to the purpose and/or charter of the department, club, LCSC recognized group or individual initiating the request; or is notification of a college related, supported or sponsored event.
• The level of urgency associated with the information implies no significant impact if that information is not disseminated until the following business day.
• The content complies with all elements of the LCSC Appropriate Use of Technology Guidelines
   

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Examples where use of ListServ is appropriate, but would not warrant an all-campus email, would be as follows:

The Athletic Department wants to inform the campus that the Men’s Basketball Team has been named the #1 Academic Team in the Frontier Conference.

The IT Department wants to inform the campus that Internet access will be disabled the coming weekend because of planned Firewall maintenance. 

2.) All Campus/College E-mails:  All campus/college e-mails are discouraged from use.  Approval from the CTO/Director of Information Technology must be obtained for these notices to be sent.

• The topic is relevant to a majority of the personnel to whom it is being sent to, and could not easily be limited in distribution to a specific personnel or group.
• The urgency of the information is such that delay until the next scheduled ListServ distribution or posting to the Internet Site is inappropriate, and would detract significantly from the purpose/intent of the information. 
• The content complies with all elements of the LCSC Appropriate Use of Technology Guidelines
   

Examples of information where an All Campus email is appropriate include:

Physical Plant Department is notifying everyone on campus that a water main break is requiring that all water to the campus be shut-off immediately. 

3.) Internet Postings and Events Calendar: Lewis-Clark State College’s Internet (Web) site’s primary use is for dissemination of information to external constituents including prospective students and their families, prospective employees and other community stakeholders. The current site is also used to disseminate general information to current employees and students. Items to be disseminated via posting on the LCSC Internet Homepage, News & Events page, or Events Calendar (not including specific department or organizational pages) must meet the following criteria:

• The topic is relevant to the Internet’s intended audience, and complies with established LCSC Internet content or events calendar guidelines.
• The information is directly related to the purpose and/or charter of the department, club or LCSC recognized group or individual initiating the request. 
• The content of the article/information/event is general information or news intended to be available to all students, staff, and to the Internet community.
• The urgency of or intent of disseminating the information is such that it does not require a direct distribution (e-mailing) to the intended audience. 
• The content complies with all elements of the LCSC Appropriate Use of Technology Guidelines.
   

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4.) Intranet Website Announcements: The LCSC Intranet website will be the primary avenue for disseminating information to all faculty and staff at LCSC.  Announcements can be posted by any LCSC employee directly, but all announcements posted must comply with the LCSC Appropriate Use of Technology Policies and Guidelines. Items posted on the LCSC Intranet website must meet the following criteria:

• The announcement is relevant to the Intranet's intended audience, and complies with all LCSC communication guidelines.
• The information/announcement is directly related to the purpose and/or charter of the department, club or LCSC recognized group or individual posting the announcement. 
• The content of the announcement is information or news/bulletin intended to be available to all faculty and staff.
• The urgency of or intent of the announcement does not require a direct distribution (e-mailing) to the intended audience. 
• Classified ads are intended for personal use and items, and no items related to a business or business venture are to be posted.

Formatting Guidelines: To assure consistency and to maximize benefits provided by the available tools for disseminating information, guidelines have been established which are unique to each tool. 

Student ListServ:  The ListServ is an excellent tool for disseminating multiple pieces of important information to the information section of LCwarriormail.   Because each ListServ contains multiple topics, however, the following guidelines have been established to help maintain readability and usefulness: 

- The body of each ListServ submittal should be limited to 20 lines of text or less.

- Use of hyperlinks to other information or Websites is highly encouraged. This helps reduce the size & length of the ListServ submittal, and allows the submitter to provide detailed information without consuming unnecessary amounts of disk space on the mail server.

- The subject line of the ListServ submittal should be descriptive so that the reader can easily identify whether the topic is of interest to them and differentiate it from the other topics.

- The primary intent of the information should be apparent in the first 2 to 3 lines of the submittal, so that the reader can quickly identify interest.

- The format, size, or nature of the submittal should not detract from, or prevent accessibility to other ListServ submittals. 

All Campus/College E-mails:  E-mail is not controlled by strict guidelines for formatting, as this is normally an individual preference. However, to help maximize performance of the college e-mail servers and to minimize expenditures for larger amounts of disk storage for mail, the following guidelines are encouraged: 

- Use of hyperlinks to other information including web sites or files is highly encouraged. This helps to reduce the size & length of the email, while allowing the submitter to provide detailed information--without reproducing it and consuming unnecessary amounts of disk space on the mail server. 
 

Internet Postings and Events Calendar:  Because of the external audience of the Internet Web Site, all information posted to the LCSC Homepage, News & Events Page, or Events Calendar must comply with established formatting and structure guidelines and templates.