This policy is subordinate to all other Plymouth State University Information Technology policies.

A listserv is an electronic mailing list which offers an efficient way to disseminate information to large numbers of people and hold long-distance discussions among many people. Mailing lists are an easy way to reach a large audience quickly, by automating the distribution of e-mail to all those who subscribe to the mailing list. Mailing lists have become a critical component of scholarly collaboration. Many colleges and universities are also using them to facilitate and enhance classroom education as well as conducting the day to day administration of the college.

An official listserv is a list that is established by academic and administrative offices to which members are pre-subscribed to by virtue of their of their positions and responsibilities at the institution, e.g.allemp@mail.plymouth.edu. ITS automatically creates listserv files for all courses as official listservs.

Unofficial listservs are subsets of the campus community which members of the list are not pre-subscribed and maintained by the requestor as outlined below.

The purpose of listserv at Plymouth State University is to facilitate and disseminate information to eligible members and affiliates of the College. Listserv services are available to current faculty, staff or student organizations. The person responsible for managing a list is known as the "list owner." If the list owner leaves the College, then the current list owner must find a new list owner and identify that new person to the listserv manager.If no new list owner can be identified, ITS reserves the right to disable the list or to request that the list be moved to a non-PSU server.

To request a list, complete the List Application Form. Applicants with questions about the form can request assistance by contacting the listserv manager at listperson jemartin@mail.plymouth.edu.

Not all requests will be honored with a list. The listserv manager may ask for additional documentation regarding the granting of a list. The listserv manager may recommend other electronic conferencing technology that would better serve the purpose of the request. Other considerations that will determine the status of a list request include the relevance of the list to the education, research, or the administration of the University and the capacity of available resources within ITS including how the size of the proposed list will affect university electronic mail systems.

Listserv requests initially rejected by ITS may be appealed through the requestors respective Principal Administrator.

If there is reason to believe that the list will be or is being used for illegal purposes, that list will not be established. If it is operational, it will be disabled after consultation with proper campus officials.

Lists are subject to all University e-mail policies. List members should not be pre-subscribed to an unofficial list without their knowledge or permission. Subscribers who request to be unsubscribed from an unofficial list should be removed.  Official lists are pre-subscribed lists maintained by Plymouth State University for administrative purposes.

The distribution of large binary documents via listserv is discouraged. The Listserv host will refuse to send messages which are greater than 300K. Large binary files should be made available from either a Web server or via the My.Plymouth group tool.

Lists will not be created by ITS from the university databases. The list owner(s)or membership of the list are responsible for subscribing or unsubscribing members to the list.

Membership to a list is not a right of the individual. List owners have the right and are responsible for unsubscribing list members who abuse a list by sending off-topic mail to the list, misuse or abuse the resource or are abusive of other list members. The list owner is responsible for determining what constitutes off-topic or abusive mailings. The listserv manager and ITS are responsible for determining if a mailing is abusive of resources. Escalation procedures for disagreements regarding the interpretation and application of this policy should be escalated through appropriate College channels, i.e., Student Affairs or department manager/chair. Abuse of a list should be brought to the attention of the listserv manager and/or other University authorities.

Based on the information provided within the listservapplication and PSU naming conventions, ITS will develop a listname.

The distribution of large binary documents via listserv is discouraged. The Listserv host will refuse to send messages which are greater than 300K.

Lists will be periodically reviewed for activity and continued conformance to the current listserv policies. Lists that are inactive or fail to conform to policy will be removed. Lists will be reviewed for activity on annual basis. List with no activity for an extended period of time will be removed. Lists associated with courses will be removed at the end of each quarter or at the conclusion of the course. List owners will be contacted by the listserv manager prior to removal of the list.