If you don't have free licenses for email accounts, another option is to use distribution groups. This is particularly useful for things like a PlayStation/Nintendo/Xbox account controlled at the branch level, where that duty may change hands frequently. It's simple for IT to change group membership, then the new staff person can use "Forgot Password" to restore access to the 3rd party account. Plus you can add other users as a backup, in which case they would receive "license about to expire" messages without having to login to a separate email.



JOSHUA ASHWORTH
Information Technology Director
He/Him/His
DaytonMetroLibrary.org
...........................

"Kindness eases change."



-----Original Message-----
From: Code for Libraries <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Hammer, Erich F
Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2022 8:40 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] A reminder about websites

Of course documentation is important, but I firmly believe all (as much as the vendors allow) subscriptions, licenses, support contracts, etc. as possible should be associated with generic, "departmental" email accounts to which multiple staff have access and the "name" should be something like "Library Systems".  Associating accounts with personal email or personal names is not only a problem when someone gets hit by the lotto bus, but when someone is sick or takes a vacation.  

At one point we had an institutional license (for Symantec Ghost) that was linked to a user who had been dead for over a decade.  The email was resolved, but it was disturbing to have to enter/see the name of the user when the license number was checked.  (The name and license number were linked and couldn't/wouldn't be changed.)

Erich


On Tuesday, September 27, 2022 at 15:46, Marisa Strong eloquently inscribed:

> As someone who supports managing a long list of domain names and 
> websites in our small organization I ensured information on our 
> different domains were documented on our wiki and kept up-to-date when 
> changes occur.
> 
> Information captured include:
> 
> Domain/Subdomain name Owned by (ex: our organization, wordpress.com) 
> DNS Managed by (ex: wordpress.com, AWS Route 53, etc) Hosted by (ex:
> wordpress.com, internal server, Pantheon/wordpress.org, etc) Notes
> 
> Notes include anything from who's wordpress.com account the domain is 
> under (can be personal or an organizational account), when the domain 
> renews, cost, funding source (grant, etc).
> 
> It's really helpful when it comes time to renew/retire since there is 
> no way I can remember all these tiny details and will help someone 
> else when I win the lottery and retire.
> 
> Marisa
> 
> Marisa Strong
> Application Program Manager
> UC Curation Center (UC3)
> California Digital Library (CDL)
> University of California Office of the President (UCOP) [ORCID 
> logo]<https://orcid.org/> http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4229-8939
> Pronouns: she/her
> ________________________________
> From: Code for Libraries <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Cary 
> Gordon <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2022 12:31 PM
> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] A reminder about websites
> 
> CAUTION: EXTERNAL EMAIL
> 
> This is a very big problem, particularly for small libraries. 
> Typically, someone in some other department somewhere set up the 
> domain, using their contact information, and a few years later, there 
> of been a few personnel turnovers, and that information is out of date 
> since the new person has no knowledge of the library's site 
> registration, they don't know that they need to figure out how to get in and change it.
> 
> Cary
> 
> On Sat, Sep 24, 2022 at 2:58 PM Joe Hourclé <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
>> Once you've associated a website with your organization, it's a good 
>> idea to make sure the domain contacts are kept up to date and you 
>> keep paying for the domain, even if it's just redirecting to your new site.
>> 
>> At least this one wasn't turned into a porn site, like what used to 
>> be the
>> norm:
>> 
>> 
>> https://www.wavy.com/news/local-news/hampton/hampton-public-
>> library-site-leads-to-adult-toy-store/
>> 
>> -Joe
>> 
>> Sent from a mobile device with a crappy on screen keyboard and 
>> obnoxious "autocorrect"
>