http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/04/22/text.iq/index.html?section=cnn_tech CNN piece about a study out of the UK that finds folks are too distracted by email, messaging, etc. Bit that resonated the most with me: “Companies should encourage a more balanced and appropriate way of working.” Heck yeah! I need to ponder the implications here of the IQ stuff, but here’s another vote for balance in our library and information lives. Handle only the information you are comfortable with and know when to unplug. With that, dear readers, I am UNPLUGGING for the weekend.
Categories Social Media
330 posts
I am loving this! A respondent says: “Kudos to linking to the Instant Messaging deifition in the Wikipedia from the Library’s website. It’s nice to know that UNLV’s librarians are up-to-date on things such as the Wikipedia. The idea of Instant Messaging for help sounds wonderful. If it isn’t a nuisance and is setup that a librarian at the help desk runs AIM in the background as she/he helps in-person patrons and then additionally helps online patrons, this could become a successful way to reach and help students.” Read all about it…http://blog.uwinnipeg.ca/schwagbag/archives/2005/04/imers_not_digit_1.html
And guess what? Your library sounds the same way if you tell patrons (of any age) that they can’t IM from your library because that’s not a valid use of your public computers. You’re basically telling people that their choice of communication channel isn’t allowed and that they should go elsewhere because you won’t be serving them today. ROCK ON!
Christina writes about the IM Training Module: Good stuff– however, I don’t see where you reinforce good reference interview behaviors. I’ve seen staff who are very good at conducting f2f reference completely forget everything when they start VR, and I would expect the same from IM. Even in the transcripts I’ve seen from libraries doing IM reference I haven’t seen probing and follow up questions as much as I would like. You can still be informal and “cool” and make sure you have the right question. How do you know that you’re above the 55%? Very true! The Reference Interview […]
One of my favorite blogs is Technobiblio. Here’s a great IM-related post from Chris: http://www.technobiblio.com/archives/2005/04/im_security_has_it_impacted_imref_services_yet.php
I had a sit down last week with a librarian working closely on an IM Reference project. I asked what kind of IM interactions they get at their library. She had this list, which may be similar to what other libraries have encountered as they begin projects like this. * Kids seeing if someone is actually “there” * A few questions of the “Are you hot?” variety * A lot of informational questions about the library: hours, etc * Some gosh darn spiffy* reference questions I think it’s important for training to understand we may get a few questions like […]
Via an email from Stephen Abram: (Thanks!) http://blog.uwinnipeg.ca/schwagbag/archives/2005/04/imers_not_digit.html Now it’s still very early, and the survey has only been up for 2 days (20 responses so far), but I’m noticing a peculiar trend in the responses: 90% of respondents currently use IM, and 90% have never used the UNLV Chat Reference service. The next question asks “if the service were offered, would you use Instant Messaging to ask a librarian for research help?” Again, 90% responded ‘yes.’ This is good stuff to ponder. Sherri does mention the VR service has not been promoted too much, which happens a lot. But […]
UPDATE: IMAOLScreenName.ppt: A Handout for getting ScreenNames
Training IM Last week I did some IM Training for some new and seasoned staff who will be working at SJCPL Service areas that use IM (Reference and AV) to answer questions. It was a good exercise and now I see more clearly how to set up this type of training. I wanted them to get screenames first, then chat with each other and then tackle some exercises. I did all the things a good trainer should do: checked my equipment, tested the computers and preppeed the room and handouts. What I didn’t count on was having issue with logging […]
http://www.ncpl.info/departments/reference/im.htm From colleague and workshop participant Stephen Boggs, who is director of New Carlisle Public Library in New Carlisle, IN (at the far west reaches of my county), we get a report of what he’s doing at his library since the “Reinventing Libraries Workshop” This rocks my world. So far I have set-up three additional IM accounts for the library. Information about or screen names is posted on our main web page @ www.ncpl.info The accounts were fairly easy to establish, though I have switched to a program called PSI to handle all three accounts instead of managing three different […]