Reference Services

Second half of the morning: David Ward from UIUC gave a talk on R U There? Implementing, training, and marketing for IM services in new user spaces.

btw, just before the talk the librarian sitting next to me saw me blogging and asked if I could look up the T-Mobile locations in DC for her because she forgot her cell phone charger. She said I could chalk that up as a mobile reference question!

Main points of Ward's talk:
Defining IM - multiple uses/technologies - understanding the difference between IM and chat
Implementation - start up
-figure out what you're going to do with IM/chat services before you get started
-use internally, get staff use to the technology
-practice IM style - use all flavors
-define necessary features
-know why chat fails
-get your own money
Generating Buy-in
-involve admin/staff
-tie in to strategic goals
-security issues - great post in Librarian in Black about this, helps librarians confront stallworth IT dept
-IM talking points - available in WalkingPaper.org
-UIUC usage stats:
vendor chats:
apr 04 - 464; apr 05 - 236; apr06 - 178; apr07 - 269
IM:
apr04 - 0 (not implemented yet); apr05 - 409; apr06 - 586; apr07 - 773
see the trend? GO WHERE THE USE IS!

hey Vendors! - we want a widget on every page like the meebo widget. (ok, that's my own editorial, but an overall observation of what he was trying to get at)

Marketing - 2 kinds:
1.) Marketing for IM
-getting your service noticed - needs assessment/meeting user needs - branding
-business cards, posters, website....
-instruction sessions, programming
-advertise
2.) Marketing with IM
-what does it say about your library staff
-new library brand
-away messages - can advertise other services & guides
-profile names - don't be staunchy (hi! IM staunchy)
-establish collaborative personality

New Stuff to use w/for IM:
-one-to-one/one-to-many/many-to-many i.e. meebo rooms
-peer-to-peer like wikis/answer websites - can libs. be a conduit for research discussion outside the library?
-video, VoIP i.e. skype - try to get the speed of voice and technology to integrate - like sending a activated link with your voice
-virtual worlds/gaming - collaborative, social, simulations, communication tools - another conduit possibility for libraries
Ward's ideal IM for collaborative services like statewide dig ref services: have one entry point with many different librarians and types of librarians on and have a bounce back message to the patron saying a librarian will be with them shortly then have that put into a queue for a librarian to pick up.

I think that last piece but most of his talk are things that I've already heard/said/done/use. Not too revolutionary but good points all the same. His presentation and Michael Stephens presentation will be/is available at TameTheWeb.com/downloads.

Afternoon session coming up!

Posted by Carla Pfahl at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Robin Good of masternewmedia.org has put together this excellent and comprehensive Web-Based Instant Messangers: A Mini-Guide review of the top 12 clients available. In the review Good and his team give us a Comparison Chart the looks at presence awareness, supported IM networks, file sending, chat conferencing, history (text chat recording), personalized avatar, secure / encrypted communication, VoIP audio support, and video support functionality.

For a while now, I have been reading the reviews and write ups Robin Good gives about online communication and collaboration tools. The information he provides is invaluable and has led me to many new discoveries of fantastic tools that can be easily applied to libraries and services. Now you know one of my many resource jems that I use to hunt down information in this field!

Posted by Carla Pfahl at 3:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Have a little fun with your chat and IM messages! I just discovered ChatFu. It allows you to copy and paste chat and IM messages into the Cartoonify Chat box in ChatFu and it will create a cartoon of your message! Now, you probably don't want to highlight patron sessions to the general public but there is the potential for a lot of fun here.

I was just playing around with this with a colleague and discovered that I could easily copy & paste complete chat histories from my meebo account but he was not able to do a complete copy & paste from his gaim account. He had to mannually delete out the timestamps in his gaim history for it to work in ChatFu. There may be other little oddities with other software but still, this seems really neat. Give it a try. I dare you not to have fun!

Posted by Carla Pfahl at 1:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I can't stop talking about the Meebo Me widget. And, apparently, other libraries are discovering this great new tool of having an ever-present chat window on your library's website. Caleb Tucker-Raymond from Oregon Libraries Network has this to say from his blog. He talks about adding script to turn the widget on and off when needed to work with the statewide service. This is for individual libraries that are part of the statewide digital reference service that also want to provide their own IM reference service.

Posted by Carla Pfahl at 3:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've discovered that even though I may be logged out of my IM people still have the opportunity to leave me a message via the chat window. The next time I log back in to my IM I get the waiting message. The problem with this is that unless the person leaving the message also supplies their contact information I have no way of knowing who that person was because I only see "MeeboGuest" on my end.

There are a couple of things you can do to avoid this if you are using the chat window widget for your IM service. You can add write some text to go along with your widget to indicate to patrons to leave their email or IM address when leaving a message offline. Also, you can have your IT staff write code so that your widget only appears on your website during the hours it is staffed. This may also help alleviate confusion for patrons of whether someone is actually available to answer their question in real-time.

Posted by Carla Pfahl at 9:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So, as I mentioned earlier, I added a chat window to this blog. The Meebo Me widget. However, there is another chat window widget out there that I wanted to bring attention to. It’s called Plugoo, www.plugoo.com. The differences between MeeboMe and Plugoo are that Plugoo works in conjunction with another IM client, like GoogleTalk, AOL, MSN. You need to be registered with one of those IM clients but the user asking a question need not be registered or logged in to another IM client. Also, Plugoo will only allow one chat session at a time. If you are chatting with a user other users that visit your site will see a “busy” message in the chat window. MeeboMe allows you to chat with as many users as you can stand at once.

I also found out that Plugoo is from a company based in France which adheres to more strict computer privacy regulations than the U.S. In case that makes any difference in reviewing chat window widget products. I decided to go with Meebo Me because I was already using them as my multiplatform IM client account manager and it was just so easy to set up and use. I'm sure Plugoo is just as easy to use but it doesn't have a multiplaform feature and I am pretty hooked on Meebo's multiplatform manager.

Posted by Carla Pfahl at 1:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A lot of people have commented about the new Meebo Me chat window I placed on this blog. It's a great way of having an ever present chat window on any and all of your web pages. When a user asks a question the default name given is "Meeboguest" so they can stay annonymous. Users also have the option of editing that and adding a different name if they choose.

Another neat feature of the chat window is that if I'm away from desk and not available to answer the user's question it will let them know I've stepped away for the moment.

Give it a whirl sometime and let me know your thoughts!

Posted by Carla Pfahl at 3:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've added a new IM chat window to the blog. Now, when I'm available, anyone can IM. It's a MeeboMe widget. More information about the widget can be found here: http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/08/02/meebo-launches-meebome. This is a great tool to add to your library's website, on any and every page so patrons can quickly ask questions from their computer. You can even add the widget to your MySpace page!

Posted by Carla Pfahl at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here is the description of the new IM webinar:

Have you considered starting a Digital Reference service for your library but not sure where to begin? Instant Messaging is a great way to get introduced into the world of Digital Reference. You can even create individual IM accounts to stay in contact with staff. In this new webinar, developed by MINITEX staff, learn just how easy it is to set up an Instant Message reference service for your library. We will look at the different IM providers available, ways of delivering service, staffing, training, policies and more. Session length will be 60 minutes which includes time for discussion and questions.

Currently, sessions are scheduled through the end of February but more will be added for March. If you are interested in registering visit our Upcomining Webinars website.

Posted by Carla Pfahl at 9:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)