It won’t be long before IM is the “phone” and Email is a delivery tool

http://blogaboutlibraries.com/2006/08/use-what-they-use-now.html

why in the world doesn’t every library with an internet connection offer IM Reference? This includes my own library where I have introduced the concept to my staff on a couple occasions, but where we have still not taken steps to get it going. My sense is that some of them just are not ready to make this leap. Maybe it’s my fault for not pushing my people harder, hoping instead that one day someone will come to me with the same idea I had two years ago. However, if that doesn’t happen soon, I can’t see how we can continue to afford not doing it.

It won’t be long before IM is the “phone” and Email is a delivery tool (and it probably is already that way for a lot of our own patrons). Whether we like it or not we don’t get to choose how we communicate with our clientele- it’s their choice. Or maybe it would be better say that we do get to choose, but that they may not use the tools we hope they will. So, it’s up to us- do we want to be relevant or not?