RAILS offers networking groups the opportunity to have their own Zoom meeting license at no cost to them. RAILS has a limited number of licenses that can be assigned to networking groups that meet on a regular basis.
Requirements
Please review the following requirements to verify your group's eligibility for a RAILS networking group Zoom meeting license. All conditions must be met to receive a Zoom license:
- Must be an established group with an updated networking group directory listing
- Meets at least twice per year
- At least 75% of the group's members are RAILS member libraries or employees of RAILS member libraries
- The email address provided in the application cannot be associated with another Zoom account
Responsibilities and Best Practices
Your networking group will be responsible for the use and troubleshooting of your license. RAILS Information Technology can provide technical support for your account if needed but is not available to attend or provide support during meetings. Please take time to familiarize yourself with the Zoom platform.
In assigning your networking group a Zoom license, we expect that your group will:
- Set up your own events
- Manage registration
- Ensure event security
- Promote your event
- Download and store the recording in a timely manner
To help you get started, review this guide to best practices. For technical issues, you should consult the Zoom Help Center.
Creating Your Event
Once your group has been given its license, you can start planning your meetings. To schedule a meeting in Zoom:
- Sign in to the Zoom web portal using the information you received in your confirmation email
- Navigate to Meetings
- Click the Schedule a New Meeting button
- Give your meeting a topic, description, and date/time
For groups of 25 or more people, you may want to consider making Registration required. This will allow you to get a better idea of who is attending. Once the meeting is over, you can download your registration list and email those individuals with more information about the group.
Security
To combat the rise of unwanted people joining meetings, all RAILS meetings are required to have a password. By default every meeting will be assigned a randomly generated password. You can edit the password by following the directions below:
- Sign in to the Zoom web portal and navigate to Meetings
- Click the topic of the meeting you would like to update the password for
- Click Edit this Meeting
- Under Meeting Options, edit the password
Recording
You do have the option to record your meeting, but networking groups must have the On the local computer option chosen. This means that your group will be responsible for downloading and storing the recorded version. RAILS does not offer storage space for individual recordings.
You may choose to store your recordings on free/paid file sharing platforms such as Google Drive or Dropbox. You might also consider creating a YouTube account for your networking group.
Promoting Your Event
Once you’ve created your event in Zoom, you can start promoting. Please note that different types of meetings will have two different ways of distributing invitations:
- For meetings with registration, all you need is the registration link
- For meetings without registration, you will need to share the meeting room link and a password (less secure option)
- Suggested channels for promoting your meeting or event:
- Ask to have your group added as an event sponsor on the Library Directory & Learning Calendar (L2) site and add your meeting to the L2 calendar
- Utilize the RAILS email lists
- Create a news article about your meeting
- Add meeting information and links to your networking group directory listing
- Share on your group's social media channels and tag us @railslibraries
Help
Sometimes things go wrong. If you need help with configuring your license or setting up a meeting, please contact RAILS Information Technology at help@railslibraries.org.