Lewis & Clark Library System » E-mail Migration

E-mail Migration

FAQS

Where do I get started? What can the System do?
To support our members as much as possible during the migration away from Mailman, the System Technology staff will help library staff migrate to a new e-mail platform of their choice. Since the System uses the Google Apps platform for e-mail and calendering, the System Technology staff is able to offer setup and training on Google Apps for our member libraries.

Several LCLS libraries have already migrated with the help of the System; we can create and configure Google Apps accounts for interested libraries, and offer training to library staff on how to use and administer their account. The library staff is then responsible for creating users and administering the account.

There are many other e-mail platforms available, and LCLS libraries are free to explore their own options, should they find that Google Apps does not meed their needs. However, we are only able to offer setup and training for Google Apps.

How is Google Apps different than Gmail?
While their foundations are the same, Gmail is best suited for personal mail needs, and Google Apps is better suited to e-mail for a whole organization. It allows you to create multiple e-mail addresses from a single account, use your library domain (for example, director@yourlibrary.org), and share calendars and documents amongst your staff.

Forwarding messages to your new account

Sign into Mailman
In the upper-hand corner, click on the Account Options menu, and choose Forwarding from the list
Enter your new e-mail address
Click save to finish

Setting up an autoresponder in Mailman

Sign into Mailman
In the upper-hand corner, click on the Account Options menu, and choose Autoresponder from the list
In the message box, type a response that will be sent to anyone who sends a message to your lcls.org e-mail address. Here is an example message:

Thank you for contacting me. Your message has been forwarded to my new email ___________________ Please be sure to update your contact list with my new email address so I continue to receive your emails. Thank you!"

Getting your contacts out of Mailman
Contacts cannot be directly exported out of Mailman, so if you need to export your contacts, you can either enter the contacts manually in Google Apps, or contact System Technology staff, who will be able to send you contacts in a csv format.

Changing contact information
We encourage you to take a few moments to verify that your library’s
information is correct in L2, especially at the staff level. L2 is
being used more and more as the single source of contact information
for libraries in Illinois; in fact, the ELI database redirects to this
information as well. We also encourage individuals to verify work
email accounts as this is an excellent source of locating contact
information.

It may also be helpful to change personal contact information in WebJunction Illinois and Tech Atlas, as they require active and accurate e-mail accounts.

Where can I get updated contact information for other libraries?
As a result of the e-mail migration, many libraries in the System have new e-mail addresses. To help ease the confusion, the System is offering an addressbook of LCLS library staff that can be imported into most e-mail systems. The e-mail addresses are taken from L2, and are current as of April 20, 2010. The addresses will not be updated in the future, and their accuracy is not guaranteed.

Click here to download the address book (.zip file)

How to import an address book into Google Apps

Google Apps Tutorials

For account administrators:

Creating New Users

For end users:

Getting to know Google Apps

Fetching Mail from your Mailman account
You can fetch existing messages from your Mailman inbox and download them into Google Apps with the following process (this process only applies to messages in the Mailman inbox – if you have messages stored in Mailman folders, you must move them to the inbox before they can be fetched by Google):
To set up Mail Fetcher:

1. Click Settings at the top of any Gmail page, and open the Accounts and Import tab.
2. In the Check mail using POP3 section, click Add POP3 email account.
3. Enter the full email address of the account you’d like to access, then click Next Step.
4. Gmail will populate sample settings, but we recommend checking with your other provider to learn the correct server name and port. Enter your Password.
5. Only check the following box:
Label incoming messages

This option automatically label all messages that are retrieved from your lcls.org, so you will know when someone is using your lcls.org account.

6. Click Add Account.

Google Apps Videos

Introduction to Gmail