- Carleton University’s Listserv:
- Who can use the Carleton Listserv?
- What types of lists are there?
- What do List Administrators do?
- How Can I Become a List Administrator?
- Carleton’s Listserv Performance
- How quickly does Carleton’s Listserv deliver email messages?
- Need Help?
Carleton University’s Listserv:
A Mailing List service (Listserv) is a tool to communicate with a number of people through a single email address. When someone sends a message to a Listserv email address, that message goes out to all members subscribed to the list.
Carleton University Mailing List service uses a product called Lyris ListManager Listserv, version 12.4. This Listserv is hosted by Information Technology Services (ITS), and is free: there are no subscription fees for list owners or list members. Anyone who has access to email can take advantage of the service.
To request the creation of a Mailing List, click the button below or contact the ITS Service Desk; a Service Desk technician will then route the request over to the Lyris team who will create and configure the mailing list, assigning the requester as List Administrator. The List Administrator then adds members to the mailing list using their email address, where they will receive the messages sent out using the Listserv.
Who can use the Carleton Listserv?
The Carleton University Listserv is used by faculty, staff, students and alumni. Priority is on supporting recognized university activities, including instruction, research and administration, as well as student groups. As example, there are mailing lists for:
- academic departments
- students enrolled in specific courses
- councils, boards, advisory groups
- student organizations
- alumni groups
- administrative groups
- outreach/engagement activities
- clubs
- … and many more.
Mailing lists are requested and owned by members of the Carleton community, but list members do not necessarily need to be affiliated with Carleton: membership on a specific list depends on the purpose and scope of the list.
What types of lists are there?
There are two types of mailing lists that can be created, each with its own intended purpose.
1. Announcement List – The owner and/or administrators of the list are the only people who are allowed to create and send messages to the members/subscribers. The communication flows one way — from the list administrators to the list subscribers.
This type of list is used for sending out newsletters, event announcements and dissemination of information that does not require feedback from the subscriber.
2. Discussion List – The list administrators/owners as well as the list subscribers are both permitted to post messages to the list. The communication flows two ways – between the administrators and the subscribers, and back and forth between different subscribers.
This type of list is used for collaborative groups engaged in the exchange of ideas and information centered on specific topic or interests.
What do List Administrators do?
List Administrators can be faculty, staff or students, that is, they are members of the Carleton Community. There can be more than one List Administrator for each list.
The List Administrator is responsible for the following:
- To act as a point of contact for any issues or questions list members may have.
- To maintain the ownership and any changes in list ownership. This includes adding or removing other List Administrators.
- To deal with bounced email messages. Usually this happens when a subscriber’s email address is not valid (e.g., they leave the University and forget to unsubscribe) or their email service is down for an extended period. The List Administrator investigates when email messages bounce back to the server by looking at the error message generated by the system.
- To actively participate as moderator of the discussions. If the discussion becomes too intense on a certain issue, the List Administrator should step in and ask the particular list members to continue their discussion outside of the list.
- List Administrators/owners who require support deal directly with the ITS Lyris Support.
How Can I Become a List Administrator?
Any Carleton University faculty, staff or student can become an Administrator for an existing list, provided the owner of the list authorizes this access.
To become a List Administrator of an existing Carleton Listserv, please contact the list administrator of the list and request to be added. If you do not know who the list administrator is, then you can contact the ITS Service Desk and request to be added to the list.
Carleton’s Listserv Performance
The Lyris Listserv will attempt to distribute e-mail to list members within twenty-four hours.
Under normal circumstances, Carleton’s Listserv should be able to deliver all mail to Carleton email addresses within 24 hours. However, ITS and the Listserv software have no control over delivery to list members who are outside the institutional email service (i.e., email accounts not suffixed by @carleton.ca or @cunet.carleton.ca).
Additionally, there are other limitations related to the configuration of each list (e.g., if a subscriber sets digest mode, then distribution occurs only once a day. In digest mode, individual messages that would normally be sent out as they are received are combined into a single message and sent out only once).
If membership on a specific list is large, ITS recommends to schedule the announcements/posts for after hours or during a time when email traffic is low.
The Carleton’s Listserv is not to be used for the purpose of marketing or advertising. ITS reserves the right, at all time, to shut down a list for any of the following reasons:
- large mailings overloading the servers;
- mailings that cause Carleton University to get blacklisted;
- Disruptive usage (e.g. spam or phishing) is suspected.
Owners should keep these guidelines in mind when posting time-sensitive material.
How quickly does Carleton’s Listserv deliver email messages?
A Listserv is a convenient and, usually fast tool for communication with a group, but if you require guaranteed immediate delivery, you should not rely solely on the Listserv. As with all email, delivery can occasionally be delayed.
Messages sent to Carleton lists undergo the same antivirus and spam checking as all email traffic. It is possible that the format or content of your message may trigger the spam filter.
Need Help?
Information Technology Services (ITS): is responsible for supporting List Administrators of a list. The ITS Lyris Team creates and deletes lists, adds/removes list administrators, uploads membership lists and reset passwords upon request, as well as helps List Administrators with setup and configuration of their lists.
To contact ITS Lyris support, please send requests to the ITS Service Desk, by email to its.service.desk@carleton.ca or by phone at 613-520-3700.