INTERNET AND E-MAIL USE (Staff)

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HCL Administrative Policy

  
 

Section: HR8

Release Date:  November 2000

Replaces Issue Dated:  April 1998

Responsibility:  Leadership Council;

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POLICY

The Hennepin County Library policy is built upon the county E-mail policy:


Hennepin County Administrative Manual

E-Mail Policy (HR 11)

The Hennepin County Electronic Mail System (e-mail) is designed to facilitate County business communications among employees and other business associates for messages and memoranda. Since no computer system is completely secure, the e-mail system is not intended to transmit sensitive materials, such as personnel decisions and other similar information which may be more appropriately communicated by written memorandum or personal conversation.

The e-mail system is County property and intended for County business. The system is not to be used for employee personal gain or to support or advocate for non-county related business purposes. All data and other electronic messages within this system are the property of Hennepin County. E-mail messages may be County records depending on their content and therefore need to adhere to department data retention schedules (see: Retention of E-mail, below).

In addition, the County through its managers and supervisors reserves the right to review the contents of employee's e-mail communications when necessary for County business purposes. Employees may not intentionally intercept, eavesdrop, record, read, alter, or receive other person's e-mail messages without proper authorization. The misuse of e-mail privileges shall be disciplined in accordance with Human Resources Personnel Rules, and/or other applicable rules or laws.

Department directors are responsible for the implementation and adherence of this policy within their departments. Department directors or their designee are encouraged to work with their departments' data security officer(s) toward that end. In the event that any department or division policy contradicts this policy, this policy shall govern. This policy may be changed only upon the written approval of the County Administrator.

General Information on Passwords
While you have a confidential password, users should be aware that this does not suggest that the system is for personal confidential communication, nor does it suggest that e-mail is the property right of the employee. The use of the e-mail system is for County business. Passwords should be periodically changed to ensure security of the e-mail system. Users should not share their password with anyone else.

Prohibited Uses
Solicitation of funds, political messages, harassing messages and other such messages are specifically prohibited. All e-mail messages are subject to the Personnel Rules of Conduct and all state and federal rules, such as, open meeting laws, data practices act, and human rights act.

Retention of E-mail
Generally, e-mail messages are temporary communication which are non-vital and may be discarded routinely. However, depending on the content of the e-mail message, it may be considered a more formal record and should be retained pursuant to a department's record retention schedules. Examples of messages of this nature are: policy, decision making, connected to specific case files, contract related or otherwise and essential part of a larger record, or other memorandum of significant public business. As such, these e-mail messages are similar to printed communication and should be written with the same care. Each department director is responsible for establishing and maintaining retention schedules for the information communicated through the e-mail system.

However, employees should be aware that when they have deleted a message from their mailbox it may not have been deleted from the e-mail system. The message may be residing in the recipient's mailbox or forwarded to other recipients. Furthermore, the message may be stored on the computer's back-up system.


HCL Policy


It is the policy of the Hennepin County Library to encourage staff to use the Internet, E-mail and the Intranet to their fullest potential to further the library's mission, to provide the highest quality patron service, to discover innovative and creative ways to use resources, and to promote staff development.

It is the policy of the Hennepin County Library to provide staff with training opportunities and guidance to make use of Internet resources to foster improved productivity and effectiveness in their positions. Training includes attending workshops, classroom training, sharing information at staff meetings, accessing instructional materials, in print or on the Staff Web page, and affording the opportunity to refine these skills as a part of employees work.

The wide variety of HCL positions requires different usage of the Internet in carrying out the duties of individual jobs. Some examples of staff Internet use include providing reference service, obtaining timely cataloging information and acquisition of materials, researching to support technology, using the Internet to access and download rapidly changing and newly released software updates.

The HCL Intranet provides access to up-to-date information which can be used by staff to gain access to a variety of operational and educational information including on-line access to forms and a staff directory and supply ordering

Staff members are assigned an E-mail account, which provides them the opportunity to join list-serv discussion groups and communicate with fellow staff or other business contacts.

Acceptable Usage


The use of the Internet and E-mail is intended for business use with reasonable personal use. Staff may use the Internet and E-mail on-site for personal research and communications outside of work hours, and during normally scheduled breaks, provided these activities do not result in additional expenses for HCL and do not interfere with HCL business.

Since personal use of the Internet is permitted, staff must be aware that the Net includes offensive material. Staff must use good judgment and common sense to refrain from creating a hostile work environment.

HCL provides Internet access to the Public via the same network that is used by staff. Downloading large graphical files, use of many plug-ins such as real audio and streaming video uses large portions of the available bandwidth available on the HCL LAN/WAN. Staff should not engage in any of these activities that are not required as part of his/her job responsibilities as they compromise the level of service provided for the public.

Saving large files downloaded from the Internet, or an accumulation of smaller files consumes storage resources intended for business purposes. Staff should not download and store non-work related files long-term on their drives.

Internet access records and records of downloaded files are not private and may occasionally be monitored as deemed necessary. The Library reserves the right to employ Internet tracking, which for example could tell if someone is visiting an illegal or non-work-related site. Network administrators may request that files stored long-term be removed when personal disk space use is above average. The content of files stored on library owned equipment may be reviewed at any time. Inappropriate or unlawful use of Internet privileges shall be disciplined in accordance with Human Resources Personnel Rules, and/or other applicable rules or laws.

Even though HCL employs a firewall and updates anti-virus software frequently, staff is expected to follow recommended guidelines posted on the Staff Web page or communicated via E-mail when opening E-mail or downloading files.


Approved by Leadership Council November 27,2000

See County Administrative Policy section of this manual, Section: HR11



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