Thing 11

Instant Messaging-

I did read three of the resources about Instant Messaging but only one of them told anything about how libraries can use the service. I suppose that it could work, offering IM to our patrons but as I see it we would have to hire a whole team of people to handle the answering of the messages because as it sits we have a hard enough time keeping up with the phones. But I suppose that if I were at home on the computer trying to place holds on the library website and had a question and there was a button I could push to type my question and have it answered with in moments, while I was still placing holds that would seem like a huge convenience and many of our patrons may see it that way as well.

Using IM to speak to co-workers I guess could be useful but really we're all just 3 buttons on the telephone away from each other, then again, if involved in a project like oh I don't know, WEB 2.0, where none of us have any clue what we're doing but there is a library affiliate that does, it might be EXTREMELY convenient to be able to ask her that question via IM. Actually I haven't e-mailed her to ask her my questions because it just seems more formal than a quick question, quick answer IM would.