I <3 IM

Welcome back, fellow Project Players! I'm excited to embark on a new semester of learning about all kinds of fun 2.0 tools and resources. I'm beginning semester 2 with a warm cup of hot cocoa (with mini marshmallows, of course) rather than my usual Diet Coke being that it is late evening and I don't want to be awake ALL night.

I first began IM-ing with my sisters when we all spread out across the world during our college years. IM was a great way to keep in touch - mostly because it is FREE - and the three of us could set dates to "chat" together. I soon added friends near and far to my buddy list and could happily chat away during the long, cold Wisconsin winters while watching a movie or baking cookies. I've never been a good "phone person" and have not had a landline phone in probably 5 years or so. IM (and txt) offers the perfect alternative and even works despite having no bars on your cell phone (no, most people cannot hear me now from inside my house!) I still find it a tad strange to chat with friends that live a mere 5 or 6 blocks away... but then again, in negative degree weather, it sure beats walking down the block!

Internal IMing at my library was a precursor to offering IM reference. Many staff set up IM accounts using yahoo and meebo and *try* to remember to login when they are at a single computer station for a set amount of time. This is yet another way for us to communicate with one another and ask quick questions - especially since our service desks and offices are spread out over multiple floors. If you'd like to be my buddy, my screen name is stojaime (AIM & Yahoo). I am usually good about logging in when I am staffing the Reference Desk. You should see me online about 30 or so hours each week. As you can see on the side column of my blog, I have a meebome widget so you can also IM me even if we're not buddies.

My library began offering IM reference service for patrons during set hours about a year ago. We have accounts set up in all of the major IM services and we aggregate them though Meebo. Our official hours are Mon-Thurs from 6-8 pm and the service is staffed by the one person on duty at the Adult Services/Reference desk. So far, traffic has been fairly low. Then again, we have not done a lot of PR. We have some flyers and table tents in the library on the tables where our wireless is strongest. We also have some business cards advertising the service that I've handed out to teens during programs. We have the meebo widget on our website and we add our screen name to lots of pr so patrons can add us as buddies. If you'd like to be our buddy, our screen name is askstoref. In the future, I'd like to expand this service with more hours and lots more PR, especially to the middle and high schools. The one challenge with expanding the service and more PR is how to staff it and keep up with questions coming from patrons expecting a speedy reply while also being the one person staffing a reference desk and handing all in person, phone, and email questions. I think our first step at having a few set hours is a great way to get our feet wet and see what works for us.

By the way, for SCLS people out there reading this, your MeeboMe widget may or may not work on a LINK computer! So, you may or may not be able to IM me via my widget, nor will you be able to test if yours is working correctly, depending on what version of flash is installed on your PC (or unless you use a non-LINK computer station).