Public Library Panel on Text Messaging

Orange County Library System: Gregg Gronlund ("Information . Imagination . Inspiration" on the bottom of his slides)

Tapping into the public trend; excellent customer service; innovation
Questline = their call center. Started in Sept. 1994. Separated their walk-in from the call-in traffic, so that reference librarians could focus on walk-in traffic. Reference librarians still answer reference questions. Average 15,000 calls per month. Stafing: 3 fulltime librarians and 11 full time reference assistants, manager and asst. manager. Also cross trained reference staff.
Tools:
Phone and headset. Email. Questline database. Library Catalog. Text messaging. Millennium circ. Instant service.
OLIVE (OCLS Interacrive Virtual Experience)- Video conferencing
Service determined by 1) service requsted and 2)cardholder status
Offers full service through Questline.

Text messaging through upside wireless www.upsidewireless.com. Has a microsoft office plug-in which converts a text message to an email, and vv. Has an autoresponse feature for some keywords. Zip code will get them the 3 closest branches. Gamer will get them the next gaming event at the library. Also alerts for due dates and computer classes.

Innovations @ OCLS

Use an Excel spreadsheet with codes for scheduling staff.
Training
Guidelines:
150 characters or less
answers should come from a reliable accepted source
When possible answers should include the source in the reposnse
Response time should be 30 minutes or less
Try to be thorough; the patron may not followup with other questions.
Tiny URLs don't tell people where they are going, so it's important to tell people what site you're sending them to.

Advertised a Business Text Messaging Night and a Sports Text Messaging Night. Increased the number of texts received that month.

They post a message about standard text messaging rates apply. If you're under 18, must have parent or guardian permission to text.

One format does not get priority over the other. Call center people take them as they come, but focus on finishing one before moving on to another.

Put an Ask a Question icon on every page that gave people a choice between chat or email. Increased usage from 85 a month to over 300 a month.

Good session.