Observe an IM Reference transaction or Talk with an IM Reference Staff member

I observed staff at Central during an IM session. A question actually came in from one of the Learning 2.o students, so it was interesting to see how the staff actually respond to the questions! I asked about the type of questions that come in, some questions have been: are you a person or a computer ; questions about holds ; asking if we have a certain title ; hours we are open - they are the usual ones. There have been some more involved questions that some colleagues have handled. The volume of questions seems to be low at this point. Whether it is because of the need for more advertising of the service, or just customers not wanting to use it remains to be seen. The staff were very positive about the IM service, especially since it is a chance to reach the high school and college students with information services tailored to their information technology - definitely they want to keep it! I asked about the differences between IM and telephone reference the responses: reference staff is trained extensively in reference interview techniques and IM does not lend itself to reference interviewing -- the person asking the question wants the information NOW. That sometimes makes for a pressured feeling, having to find information in a hurry and type fast to get the answer back quickly, but it is a challenge that the reference staff are adapting to. They would agree that IM should be here to stay!!
IM
Instant Messaging
Libraries
IM Reference Interviews

Instant Messaging - IM and Libraries

Why should libraries use IM?

• The statistics show that 53 million adults are using IM in their daily lives -- if we want to reach customers and be relevant to them, we need to take into consideration their technology usage and deliver the information they want in a technology format they use -- IM is statistically an appropriate tool to use to reach those customers who use it.
• In the Breeding article, Instant messaging: it's not just for kids anymore the following quote is quite relevant to the question: "the pervasive presence of instant messaging will be ignored only by organizations willing to risk irrelevancy"

How is IM different than traditional communication channels?

• After reading the articles the idea of "presence awareness" was one of the differences that stuck in my mind as an appeal factor for IM. The immediacy of the conversation and communication with another person was important. Email has lag time that IMers simply don't want to put up with. Also, IM is available on PDAs and cell phones, so it is a take with you technology you can use anytime.

How many of the IM population are our customers and why should we care?

• Probably lots! Of the 53 million adults who use IM, I would think the odds are that quite a few could already be our current customers waiting for us to initiate relevant information exchanges. Librarian IM: "Hello, is anyone out there???" IM Response: "YES!!! Where have you been? I need..............."
• Reaching teens is one of our top priorities, they are our future if we stay relevant to their needs. The Pew article on Teens and Technology stated that 45% have cell phones and that 33% use texting. That's a big chunk of customers we could draw IF we provide services that can answer their information needs.

Why should we care?

• Let's start with professional pride. Librarians open up information to individuals, we always have. The IM me article spoke of the IM process: "in the process, librarians can truly be their users' personal guide through the information ocean." We bring information to light.
• We have always helped customers who have come through our doors find the information that they need. We have even provided telephone reference and email services. Bravo! We can still continue those services... However,
• It is time to expand our services to help customers who still need the information we can provide, but choose to request it via IM, the option that best suits their busy lives.
• If we want to be relevant to information seekers who use IM as well as other emerging technologies we need to provide the information they need in whatever mode that can reach them successfully.
• Libraries and librarians have so much to offer information seekers -- lets keep pace with the technology that will allow us to deliver that information to them.

IM
Instant Messaging
libraries
Library 2.0