UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 7
October 17, 1996
etiquette@e-mail.udel.edu

     E-mail has been around for a little more than a third of a
century-long enough for e-mail to become commonly used, but short
enough that people are still groping to understand what's
appropriate "e-mail etiquette."
     Last year, a subcommittee of CIRPM worked on issues
related to electronic record-keeping.
     "Issues about e-mail use came up over and over," Jean
Brown, University archives, says.
     As a result, the CIRPM subcommittee decided to discuss
guidelines "to raise the awareness of all e-mail users," she
says.
     "In part, these are 'behavioral' guidelines about
privacy and etiquette," she says, "but, they also address
e-mail as a way the University conducts business."
     "The University has a lot of official documents and
records," Lynda Ruggerio, information technologies, says. "A
large number of the records are electronic records-computer files
of one type or another. And, employees need to recognize that
e-mail messages, too, are part of the 'body of official
University records.'"
     "Our subcommittee felt it was very important that
University employees remember that e-mail is not a private thing.
It is one of the tools employees have to help them conduct the
business of the University and should be used appropriately,"
Brown says.