Email Transition Resources

• Free personal accounts are allowed for business use; however, in that case, custom domains are not supported (must use @gmail.com).
• Nonprofit Gmail accounts are not available to government entities.
• Gmail stores deleted emails for 60 days and provides a built-in archive folder that is never deleted.
• AtMail archive transfer is supported in Thunderbird.
• Additional plan options offered at an additional cost for more storage and features.

Google Workspace Information & Pricing

• Microsoft 365 Business Basic (Nonprofit Staff Pricing)
• Public libraries qualify for Microsoft nonprofit status.
• Free for up to 300 users.
• Web and mobile versions of Microsoft 365 apps.
• 1 TB of cloud file storage.
• Business-class email and customized domain capability.
• AtMail archive transfer via Outlook.
• Additional paid options offered for more features.

Microsoft 365 Nonprofit Plans & Pricing

• Offers a free plan option with generous inbox storage space.
• Custom domains are not supported for any plan option (must use @yahoo.com).
• Yahoo stores deleted emails for 30 days and provides a built-in archive folder that is never deleted.
• AtMail archive transfer is supported in Thunderbird.

Yahoo Mail Plus Information

• Free plan option offered with customized domain capability (can keep @[cityname].lib.ia.us].
• The $4 plan offers email backup and restoration (up to 50GB in addition to the 50GB for the box).
• Must use an owned domain (@[cityname].lib.ia.us) or there is an option to buy a custom email domain (i.e. @[city]library.com).
• Walks you through the domain setup process and migration of AtMail email archive on initial setup of account, which can take a while but is fairly straightforward. 
• If not completed during setup, AtMail email archive transfer can be manually done after the fact in Thunderbird.
• Additional paid plan options offered for more storage and features.

Zoho Mail Premium Information & Pricing 

Zoho Business Email Setup Guide

Many users have experienced ongoing technical issues with AtMail’s email service. Satisfaction with AtMail and their corporate customer service has been low.

The State Library also has concerns with handling FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests. Because state and local government emails are considered public records, providing email service to libraries puts the State Library in the time consuming and potentially sensitive position of middleman between the city handling the FOIA request and the email service provider. Legally, these situations are best handled in their entirety by the city.

The State Library began offering email service when it was tied to the first generation of PLOW library websites, in the early days of the internet. At the time, few libraries had email service or the staff expertise to set it up. Now, email is ubiquitous, and can be likened to phone or internet service, which the State Library does not subsidize for libraries. There are also no other state library agencies that provide the same level of email service to public libraries on a statewide basis.

The last day for AtMail email service is April 30, 2025. On May 1, 2025, public libraries will have to start using an alternative service for email. 

Libraries can transition to a new service any time before May 1, and are encouraged to do so sooner rather than later. The State Library is giving more than eight months' notice to allow libraries plenty of time to evaluate options, make a selection and move to a new email service.

Yes! The State Library owns and will continue to own the @[cityname].lib.ia.us for all public libraries in Iowa.

If your new email provider supports the use of custom domains, you will be able to continue using your @[cityname].lib.ia.us email address. Follow the setup and domain transfer instructions of your new email provider. Your District LRT may also be able to assist if needed.

The main benefit of keeping your @[cityname].lib.ia.us domain is the consistency; you will not have to notify your patrons and stakeholders of the change and you will not have to update your email address in the many resources it’s currently stored in. 

The set up process will depend on the new email provider. Most require creating an account and setting up payment (if not using a free plan). Once your new email service accounts are created and you’ve transferred your email archive (if applicable), contact your District LRT so the State Library can track which libraries have migrated to a new service.

Emails in AtMail will be available until April 30, 2025. After that date, all accounts will be deleted and you will not have access to old emails that were not moved over to new accounts. 

Transferring your AtMail email archive and contacts to your new email service inbox is possible in Thunderbird. If you choose Zoho, there is a way to make the transfer during the setup process. The State Library has prepared step-by-step instructions for email archive transfer in Thunderbird for Google, Yahoo, and Zoho email services, which you can find on this page in the section below.

Since emails are considered public records, they fall under records retention rules and must be archived and kept available for potential records requests until the retention schedule lapses. Ultimately, the length of time to retain emails is determined by the city.

Watch a State Library webinar recording for more information on records retention and what that means for your library emails: Reliable Records Retention.

The Iowa League of Cities has also developed a Record Retention Manual for Iowa cities with recommended retention schedules for different types of records.

Library emails are considered public records and employees should have no expectation of privacy when using the library's computers and electronic equipment. 

FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests in Iowa must conform with Iowa Code Chapter 22, entitled “Examination of Public Records (Open Records).”

Each city should have a written policy for handling FOIA requests made to any of its agencies, including the public library. Consider notifying your city attorney of any open records requests to guide your city’s response.

You can read more about FOIA requests for library records and find additional resources in the following Library Law FAQ developed by the Law Librarian: I just received a FOIA request for library records. What do I do?

No, AtMail does not offer individual accounts.

The State Library has provided several options for email service providers that should work for most libraries. Free account options are available, or you may choose to upgrade to a paid option for additional features like custom domains or additional inbox storage space. The State Library does not specifically endorse any of those companies, and you are free to choose a service that is not on the list. These options include:

• Google Business
• Microsoft 365 for Nonprofits
• Yahoo Mail
• Zoho

As a department of the city, you may also want to explore joining your city’s email service provider. This may be a cost effective option and would reinforce the connection between the library and city.

You may also want to inquire with your library’s internet service provider (ISP), which may offer email service to customers. We have seen occasional issues with a few ISPs marking Library Talk and State Library newsletters as spam, so contact your LRT if you have questions about an ISP you’re considering.

There are options for free email service, with the tradeoff being limited inbox storage size, or not being able to customize your domain and keep your @[cityname].lib.ia.us email addresses.

Refer to the table of email service options above to see which offer free accounts and what limitations there are for those accounts so you can make the best choice that fits your needs and budget.

The timeline was dependent on when the State Library’s contract with AtMail officially ends. By giving more than eight months notice, we hope libraries will have time to plan for the expense in their FY26 budget while only having to cover a few months of email service before FY25 ends.

As a courtesy, the State Library will redirect your @[cityname].lib.ia.us email addresses to your new email domain until the end of 2025. Once you have your new email service set up, contact your District LRT for a final check in. You will be asked to provide a list of old and new emails for forwarding. Once that is received, the SILO Helpdesk will set up the forward (redirect) and your AtMail account(s) will be deactivated.

You may want to set up a signature in your new email that includes a notice of your new address, for example: “Please note my new email address of [email address] and update my contact information.”

It is also very important that you update your email address in the following State Library resources (if applicable):

• Iowa Library Directory
• SILO ILL (both the library ILL email address and your personal account)
• Workday Learning
• LibraryTalk
• Koha/State Library Catalog
• Overdrive Marketplace (your LRT will do this)
• Iowa Heritage Digital Collections
• E-rate/USAC

There will likely be other places that you need to update your email address as well, so it’s worth thinking through and making a list of those.

Yes, please contact your District LRT for a final check in and to let them know your AtMail account(s) can be deactivated. This will help the State Library track which public libraries have transferred to a new email service and know which ones need additional contact and reminders.

PLOW websites hosted by the State Library are not connected to your library's email domain and will be unaffected by this change. Note if your email addresses change you will have to update any contact information on your website.

Thunderbird is a free email application that’s easy to set up and customize. Click this link to be taken to the Thunderbird download site.

1. Download the free Thunderbird App
2. Run the installer (setup.exe you just downloaded)
3. Select "Yes" to allow the app to make changes to your computer
4. Select Next -> Leave as standard and click Next -> Leave the install path as is and decide if you want this as your default email program and click Install
5. After it installs, click Finish to launch it for setting up the necessary email settings.

You will see the following page. Fill it out accordingly.

Use your full name, your SILO email address (lib.ia.us address) and then press continue.

Fill out the next page as seen below.

Incoming Hostname: imap.us-east.atmailcloud.com

Outgoing Hostname: smtp.us-east.atmailcloud.com

After filling out the page with the data as seen above, click the <Done> button.

It will run and create your account as seen below.

Your Thunderbird account is now set up!

If you are not seeing your folders, right-click on your account on the left and select Subscribe. Check the folders you want to see in Thunderbird.

Set up a New Zoho Email Account

1. Go to the Zoho Mail homepage, select the Business Email option, fill out the requested information and click Sign-up for free. 
2. You will be asked to verify a one time code texted to the phone number provided.
3. Zoho Mail offers different plans to suit your needs. Once you choose the plan you prefer, click Buy now for a paid plan or Try now for the free one.

Add Your @[cityname].lib.ia.us Email Address (Domain)

1. In the Domain Addition page, click Add now under Add an existing domain section.
2. Provide your Domain address ([cityname].lib.ia.us email address) and the name of your organization in the pop-up. The organization name that you provide here will be used for all future references. You can also edit it later in the Admin Console.​​​​​​​
3. Once done, proceed by clicking the Add now button.

4. You must now provide information to your LRT for us to verify your domain. You will see the screen below​​​​​​​:
    

   
5. Please copy and paste the information located in the TXT Value / Content field and send that to your LRT so we can update the DNS records properly.
6. After we notify you the changes have been made to your account, click on Verify TXT Record.

Add Users to Your Organization

After successful domain verification, you will be asked to provide a name to create the first user of your organization. Note that the first user you create will become the super administrator by default. The super admin will have all the privileges across all users who are added to your organization.

1. Upon giving the user name, click Create.​​​​​​​
2. After adding the super admin, you will be taken to the Users page where you can start adding users to your organization.
3. Adding users in Zoho Mail can be done in multiple ways, depending on your convenience.
   1. Add Users one by one.

   2. Invite a user to be a part of your organization.

      Note: When you add a user, you are creating an individual account for them in your organization. You will be providing the user with a unique professional email address and password using which the user can access their account.

4. Add User(s). Click the Add button.​​​​​​​
    

   
5. Enter the desired first name, last name and username. You will also be required to provide a password, which the user can use to log in later.

6. You can also check Force user to change the password during the first login option, according to your security requirements.

   Note: If you check the above option, the user will be prompted to change the password of their account during their first login attempt. The user will not be able to enter or access their account before changing the password.

7. Click Add to finish creating the user account in your organization.​​​​​​​
    

   

8. Redo the same steps to add as many users as you need.

Thunderbird is a free email application that’s easy to set up and customize. These are the instruction for importing your email contacts from AtMail's webmail to Thunderbird's email application. Unlike email, contacts are not kept in sync. They are treated as completely different entities. Once you have imported them from webmail to Thunderbird, you will need to add and delete them separately. 

Export Contacts from Webmail

1. Log into AtMail webmail and click on the box tiles next to your email address in the upper left of the screen. Select Contacts.
2. Select Export and choose which contacts you would like to export, or click All to export all contacts. Click OK.
3. Save the export file in a location that you will be able to find to import into Thunderbird.

Import Contacts into Thunderbird

Next, import the vCard file (.vcf) that was created into Thunderbird.

1. Select Address Book from the top toolbar of Thunderbird. This will open the Address Book in a new tab.
    

   
2. In the Address Book, select Tools from the top menu, then Import from the drop down menu.
3. Select the Address Books radio button and then click Next.
4. Select vCard file (.vcf) format in the file type drop down and click Next.
5. Navigate to where the file (vCard file) you created from webmail is located on your computer and select it. Click Open.
6. Your contacts will import and you will receive a success message. Your contacts have now been imported into Thunderbird!

Set Up Your Gmail Account and Enable IMAP

1. Sign into Gmail with your credentials, such as email id and password. Make your way toward the upper right and click on the Settings icon, which looks like a small gear.
2. Once you click on the setting gear icon, click See all Settings.

3. On the Settings page, click the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab at the top, and then in the IMAP Access section, click the radio button next to Enable IMAP. Be sure to hit Save at the bottom of the screen once selected.
    

   
4. Next, make sure you have set up Thunderbird with your AtMail email account added (directions under "Thunderbird" tab above).

Add Your Gmail Account to Thunderbird

1. Log in to Thunderbird. Click on the Settings icon ("hamburger" menu of three horizontal lines in the upper right corner) and then select Account Settings.

2. A new window will open. On the left side, click on Account Actions. A pop up box will open with several options. Click on Add Mail Account.
    

   
3. You will be redirected to the new window to add a Gmail account. After entering details such as full name, email address, and password, click Continue.
4. Click on the IMAP option (should be the default) to sync emails on the server, and then click Done.
5. After that, the login page of Gmail will open. Click on the Finish button.
6. You will now be able to drag messages from your AtMail account to the location you want them in your Gmail account. Note: dragging the messages will move them. If you want to copy them, be sure to right click and select the "Copy to" option.

Make sure you have set up Thunderbird with your AtMail email account (directions under "Thunderbird" tab above).

Add your Yahoo account to Thunderbird

1. Log in to Thunderbird. Click on the Settings icon ("hamburger" menu of three horizontal lines in the upper right corner) and then select Account Settings.

2. A new window will open. On the left side, click on Account Actions. A pop up box will open with several options. Click Add Mail Account.
    

   
3. You will be redirected to the new window to add a Yahoo account. After entering details such as full name, email address and password, click Continue.
4. Click on the IMAP option (should be the default) to sync emails on the server, and then click Done.
5. After that, the login page of Yahoo Mail will open. Click on the Finish button.
6. You will now be able to drag messages from your AtMail account to the location you want them in your Yahoo account. Note: dragging the messages will move them. If you want to copy them, be sure to right click and select the "Copy to" option.