Email Guidelines

Email is an important business tool to facilitate communication and workplace efficiency that makes us more productive and better informed. However, misuse can translate into legal trouble, reputational harm and potential security breaches. It is important that we provide a list of expectations and guidelines so that this service continues to be beneficial to everyone.

Although email is a service that is provided for business use, we understand that sometimes life's busy day-to-day may lead to using work email for personal use. However, we ask that members refrain from using email for personal reasons due to issues of security, personal privacy, storage space, and various behaviour and productivity policies.

We would like to avoid any unfortunate situation that would involve the legality of any emails stored on the server, which are considered company property. Please understand that we may not be able to provide support for email related issues on personal devices or outside networks.

Using work email implies following general employment guidelines, including (but not limited to) the avoidance of the following:
harrasment, threats, discrimination, offensive language, inappropriate material, engaging in unrelated commercial activity, distributing copyrighted material, sharing confidential information outside of the company, etc.

For the safety and security of others, we ask that any incident regarding the list above be reported to the library director, who then may also contact Carol if necessary.

Email continues to be the number one initial method of cyberattacks. In most cases, an email contains an infected attachment or maliscious link that convinces the user to click on and/or enter sensitive information. Although all email attachments are scanned for viruses, it is not a gaurantee that all attachments are safe.

Please click here for a guide to help you determine if an email is valid or not.

Please be aware of emails that may appear in your inbox that are not work related and appear to be spam. As we continue to work on controlling spam, there are times when an email
may get through. If this happens, please do NOT open the email since doing so may intiate communication to the spammer and cause an increase of messages. Instead, mark the message
as spam which will move the email into your junk folder. As users mark messages as spam, the server has a learning curve and will adjust its settings accordingly.

Unfortunately, on the other hand there are times when a valid email is incorrectly marked as spam. If you are missing an email and are unable to locate it by using the search
feature, checking other folders (including the junk folder), and verifying with the sender, please contact tech-help for further assistance.

Currently we do have limitations set on how much space can be stored on the server. There's a bar indicator in the top right of the screen just below the users name that reflects available storage space for your account. To prevent any issues with storage space, please delete any email messages that are no longer needed.
Emails are unable to be saved "forever", and as a result policies will be placed on messages that are saved. This will be detailed at a later time.

Since email is a form of business communcation, please follow these guidelines to maintain a certain level of expectations:
Professionalism - Emails should be professional and respectful in tone, more formal than casual.
Spelling/grammar - Spell check should be enabled and grammar checked before sending emails.
Proofread - Before sending, you should re-read your email to correct errors, check tone, and avoid miscommunication.
Address - Double check the recipients' addresses before sending the email, and avoid sending an unfinished/unedited message.
Signature - Follow your location's guidelines regarding specific information that should be included in an email, such as name, phone number, website address, etc.
Reply all - To respect other's time and inbox capacity, limit replies to those who need to know the information being conveyed. Avoid using "Reply-All" unless absolutely necessary.
Forward - It's probably best to not forward without permission, or at least review all content prior to forwarding to avoid sending sensitive information. Do not alter others' text.
Capitalization - Avoid using ALL CAPS in email messages.