I got a note from a TTW reader from Europe, who’s excited about upcoming plans for IM in their libraries!
Don’t be surprised if the city’s libraries offer IM communication with the users from all 20+ libraries. The head of the libraries just said “Go do it!” Now, what remains is to convince our colleagues that it is a good idea. Do you have the same problem with convincing your collegues about that?
We sure have: “That’s stupid and just for young teenies who want to chat nonsense to each other”, “We don’t have time for that, emails and telephones are sufficient”, “IM? – can’t we have a little privacy here”
Do you recognize those phrases?
I do, reader, I do!
What I might suggest is offering those librarians an evidence-based session on user-centered services, highlighted by OCLC Perceptions, some IM in Libraries articles, and a tour of what some librarians have done with IM!
Get them in a training room and let them IM with each other. Sometimes just playing gets folks on board!