The Illinois Directory : FAQ for Students

This page contains frequently asked questions about the campus Illinois Directory (ID) service.

Frequently Asked Questions

Answers

Some information in my Illinois Directory entry is wrong. How do I change it?

Some of the information in your Illinois Directory (ID) entry is taken from the Banner student registration system; some of it is information that you can add or change.

Below is a list of the fields that are filled by extracting the information from the Banner student registration system. The Banner system receives this information from Student Services and Student Records.

Note that this information cannot be edited using the Electronic Directory Editor and must be changed at the source.

ID Fields Originating from Student Services
    pretty_name
    first_name
    middle_name
    last_name
    name_suffix
ID Fields Originating from Student Records
    phone (this duplicates the mailing_address_phone field)
    address (this duplicates the mailing_address field)

    mailing_address
    mailing_address_phone
    permanent_address
    permanent_address_phone

    student_program_code
    student_program_name
    student_level_code

    student_class_code
    student_class_description
    student_department_code
    student_department_name

    student_level_description
    student_major_code
    student_major_name

    title (if you are an undergraduate student employee, this field will contain “student employee”)
    department (if you are an undergraduate student employee, this field will contain the name of the department by which you are employed)
Information You Can Add or Change

Updates to the following fields can be made with the Electronic Directory Editor. You will need to know your NetID and NetID password.

 

ID Field Name Notes
email This is specific email address that will receive all mail sent to yourNetID@illinois.edu. The default for students is yourNetID@express.cites.illinois.edu. More information
other_phone
other_address
nickname
www Here you may insert a web address for your home page, if you have one.

 

NOTE: If you are both a student and an employee (e.g., a graduate assistant at the University), your Illinois Directory data comes from both student and employee data systems. To maintain correct address and phone number data, you will need to follow the procedures for both students and employees.
I recently moved to a different residence hall. I updated my mailing address in Banner a couple of days ago, but my Illinois Directory entry hasn't been updated yet. What do I need to do to make this change take effect?

Student address data is provided to CITES for the Illinois Directory twice a week. So your changes may take a few days to appear in the ID.

Banner Web for Students has multiple address fields. I'm not exactly clear what sort of information belongs in each of these places.

The mailing address and its corresponding phone number are used by the University to contact you during the academic term, and the permanent address and its corresponding phone number are used to contact you between academic terms.

As an incoming student, you probably started with your parents' or guardian's address as your permanent address and at some time during the registration process edited your mailing address to include the address of the residence hall, certified student housing location, or apartment where you reside while on campus. Of course, the addresses most appropriate to you will change several times during your time at the University of Illinois.

There are no hard and fast rules about which of several possible addresses is most appropriate, as this varies by individual. Whatever the case, students are responsible for maintaining accurate information so that the University can contact them both during and between academic terms.

I want people on campus to be able to see my permanent or home phone, but I don't want people all over the world to be able to see it. Isn't the Illinois Directory available to everyone on the Internet, and therefore the world?

The permanent_address and permanent_phone fields are not visible to off-campus users.

I really don't want any of my addresses to appear in the Illinois Directory. How can I do this?

Students can suppress their directory information by filling out a FERPA suppression form at the Admissions & Records Building, 901 W. Illinois, Urbana.

The terms of the suppression are mandated by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a federal law affecting educational institutions such as the University of Illinois. As a result of the University's implementation of this statute, such suppression is nearly total. Not only will your name, address, and phone number be suppressed from the student pages of the paper phone directory, but the Student Records office is not even able to supply information about you to prospective employers. In compliance with federal law, your existence as a student of the University of Illinois is concealed.

Note that suppression requests are effective only when submitted during the first five days of an academic term and are effective until you specifically request unsuppression. If you do not request unsuppression, the suppression will remain perpetually, even after you have left the University.

NOTE: If you are a student who is also an employee, please note the following:

Because you are an employee, your local address and phone information is suppressed. But if you register for a class with Banner Web Registration and enter your local information there, it will appear in the ID.

If you wish to have this information hidden, you may opt for FERPA suppression as a student, but your entire ID entry will then be suppressed.

How does FERPA suppression affect my Illinois Directory entry?

In accordance with the University's implementation of the federal law, CITES is required to conceal the fact that you exist as a student at the University of Illinois. As a result, your friends and colleagues will not be able to look you up in the Directory.

If you have chosen FERPA suppression in the student record system, your entire Illinois Directory entry may be concealed -- even if you are also employed by the University. This affects graduate assistants as well as faculty/staff who may be enrolled in a credit or noncredit program.

FERPA-suppressed students may also encounter difficulty using the University of Illinois WebStore to download software. The terms of some software licenses require verifying the type of affiliation you have with the University. For FERPA-suppressed individuals, this information is concealed and cannot be verified by the University of Illinois WebStore. Individuals who are FERPA-suppressed who encounter difficulty downloading software via the Software WebStore should contact the CITES Help Desk. The CITES Help Desk staff will assist you with alternative methods of obtaining the software you need.

Do I really want to do this? Now no one can find me or even see the information I consider public!

That's a decision you and you alone can make. You need to balance your privacy needs against the inconvenience that the complete concealment of FERPA suppression can impose. Many people find suppression a necessary protective step, but many other people find that it can cause as many problems as it solves. As a result, you need to consider your needs carefully before making this decision. The Office of Admissions and Records can provide further details about student suppression.

I'm not concerned about my presence in the paper student/staff directory, or feel like going so far as to conceal myself through FERPA suppression, but I am concerned about my addresses and phone numbers being accessible via the Internet. What can I do?

As mentioned above, the permanent_address and permanent_phone fields are already not visible to off-campus users.

But in general, the campus policy is that all other student address and phone information may be made available to the public via either the Illinois Directory or other nonelectronic means, such as the campus directory assistance operator.

The only alternative is to conceal all information by requesting FERPA suppression.

Any concerns about the privacy of student record information should be directed to the Office of Admissions and Records.

I live with my parents between semesters, so I should give their address as my permanent address. But I don't want my parents' address and phone number to appear in the Illinois Directory . What can I do?

The fields permanent_address and permanent_phone are not visible to Illinois Directory searches from outside the campus. To conceal addresses further, the only option is FERPA suppression. See How does FERPA suppression affect my Illinois Directory entry?, above.

I graduated in May and moved to Colorado. I want my friends to be able to find me. Is there a way I can update my addresses so people can find me after I've left the University?

You're still able to update your address information in Banner in the same way as you did when you were an active student. Former students remain in the Banner system for a period of two years after departure from the University (regardless of whether you graduated or withdrew). Your ID entry will display the address information that you enter into the Banner system.

You can also edit the other_address and other_phone fields in your ID entry using the Electronic Directory Editor. These fields have no tie with the official record fields, so their contents are completely up to you. To update these fields, you'll need your NetID and NetID password.

The Leaving the Urbana campus page gives more information on what to do when leaving the University.

How long do my NetID and Illinois Directory entry remain after I've left the University?

If you graduate or fail to register and do not return within two years, your NetID will be removed from Banner and your Illinois Directory entry will be deleted at the same time.

NOTE: If you were both a student and an employee, please note the following:

    Employee NetID and Illinois Directory entries are deleted after the employee has been gone from the University for a period of one year.

    Your NetID and ID entry will remain in place until you are neither a student nor an employee and until both the student and employee grace periods described above have expired.

Note that at the time your NetID and Illinois Directory entry are removed, your netid@illinois.edu mail address will stop working. You should make arrangements to refer your correspondents to your new address soon after your departure from the University of Illinois. The Leaving the Urbana campus page provides more information about this.