IM - Instant Messaging

 

IM - Instant Messaging Readings for IM (Instant Messaging) Historical precedent? 1. Subscribing to services: AOL's AIM Yahoo MSN Messenger Google Talk 2. Getting it all together with Meebo - or Trillian 3. Scheduling people to log in 4. Promoting IM at Boreham Library   5. What kinds of questions do we handle? Drafts

 

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Readings for IM (Instant Messaging)

 

* Read Are Reference Desks Dying Out?  Do we need to be more flexible in how we handle reference services?

 

* Read Chatting With Confidence and Using Instant Messaging and Chat Rooms Safely about security precautions.

 

* From blogwithoutalibrary.net comes an IM the Library! on creating an IM reference service.

 

Historical precedent?

 

From the Cool Librarian blog:

 

"So, I was reading this little history nugget about Melville Dewey - very interesting for a short piece, I might add (thanks, LIS News) - and I came to this:

 

While Dewey never returned to live in Massachusetts, he maintained a lifelong affection for Amherst. In 1881, he wrote, "Sum day, dear Amherst, may it be my happy lot tu pruv how great iz the love I bear yu. Proud, always, everwher to be counted among yur sonz, I am Very truly, Melvil Dui."

And, heaven help me, the first thing that came to mind was, "Did he text this?" 

Obviously, I need to get out more."

 

 

1. Subscribing to services:

 

Okay, the first thing is to subscribe to a the most-used services and use them often enough to keep them active (hopefully, the students will do that!).  We need to at least login to them now and again.  There's an easy way to do that without having to go to each one -- use Meebo (see below).

 

I've set up accounts on the most popular services:

 

AOL's AIM

 

The address is http://aimexpress.aol.com and the Name is UAFSlibrary and the password is B0reham (the O is really a zero).

 

Yahoo

 

The address is                

 

MSN Messenger

 

The address is       and the name is uafslibrary@hotmail.com and the password is B0reham.

 

 

Google Talk

 

 

2. Getting it all together with Meebo - or Trillian

 

Which to use?  Trillian is software you load, but Meebo is a web site.

One librarian said: "I started out with Trillian because we could have the major players in one interface (Google IM was not an issue at the time and I haven't really done anthing about it at this point). I looked into Meebo when it first came out, but sometimes the other ref librarians close down the browser windows without thinking about it. With Trillian I can set it up to open when the computer is turned on. I don't have to worry about whether or not the first person at reference remembers to open it up."

 

The address is http://wwwl.meebo.com/ and the login is uafslibrary B0reham.

 

Meebo lets you login to AIM, Yahoo, Google and MSN together, and get messages from any/all of them.  Then you can send back a message via the appropriate service.  Very helpful when you don't want to limit yourself.

 

Also, you don't have to load special software for each service.  Granted, you may not have all the features of a specific service, but for just basic IM, you can get by.

 

Other libraries are using it.  See the list here .

 

Case from a college library: "We have found that IM gets minimal use in the mornings. The big use is late afternoon and into the evenings. During the day, when most of the staff is present, we staff IM separately from the physical desk. From 5-10pm at night and on weekends, the single librarian on duty does both the desk and chat. We have not found into too much of a problem. The physical desk gets attention first and you just do IM as you are

able. Patrons have no problem with getting a message that you will be back in 5 minutes. It stills saves them a trip to the library, or leaving their belongings unattended in the library as the come to the desk. Mornings are optional if someone wants to login.

We used Meebo initially. You will see from our page (http://library.case.edu/ksl/ref/ask.html), we did create an account in the various external services. We are now using Spark as our campus has decided to support it and added some functionality like a customer chat window.

Other ways we relieved some of the stress was to create some quick standard answers that can be used. We also gave out a list of potential abbreviations that they might see, but surprisingly that has not been much of a problem. Since we are not really being buddy-buddy with the patron, the abbreviations usually do not work into the conversation." [ Brian Gray  mindspiral@gmail.com  bcg8@case.edu  ]

 

3. Scheduling people to log in

 

This is something that can be done as a regular scheduling function. 

One librarian said: "attended a short demonstration on how to use Meebo, and we spent a couple of weeks practicing and fleshing out problems before we linked to the widget page on our site. Due to staffing, we only offer IM from 9-12 and 1-5. The biggest problem we have faced with IM is remembering to log in."

 

 

4. Promoting IM at Boreham Library

 

How about bookmarks?  Other libraries have used stickers.

 

One librarian said: "I also put a plugoo widget on our web page so someone without their own IM account could IM us."

Another librarian said: "We use the Meebo widget on our web page, so we did not need to sign up for multiple IM accounts; instead, students are able to use the Meebo chat widget without signing in to any service. You can check it out here: http://www.lib.utulsa.edu/contact.htm...

If a reference librarian has to step away from the desk, Meebo allows us to indicate that we will be right back on our widget."

 

  5. What kinds of questions do we handle?

 

From Bucknell:

At Bucknell, we implemented an AIM question and answer service two years  ago. Bucknell has a merged technology and library organization, and our AIM  service, ISRBuddy, acts as a online front end for the organization. Users may ask technology or library questions. We find that we get about 80%

technology questions.

The service is staffed by whoever's working the reference desk (librarians, tech support folks and grad students -- we have people from throughout the

organization working the reference desk), and is open whenever the library is (7am - 2am on weekdays). Yes, we have librarians answering technology

questions! We have an extensive technology knowledgebase, and staffers are encouraged to send users links to answers in the knowledgebase that will  answer their questions. If they can't answer the question, it's forwarded to our technology help desk's AIM account. Then a student from the tech

desk will take the question and IM the user.

We've found that it works really well, and that students enjoy and use it frequently (as do some tech savvy university staff). Several librarians

came to me and remarked that they've learned a lot about computing support, as well as our IP television system!

[Good luck! Thanks, Jason Snyder Integrated Online Services Consultant/Librarian, Information Services and Resources (ISR), Bucknell University

Lewisburg, PA 17837 570.577.3231 - from a Web4Lib post]

Drafts

 

 

Draft 1

Draft 2