Considers the ability to send a text message a "core competency" for librarians today.
Twitter: @libraryfuture
Tweetable: text messaging is the focus of mobile communication and info exchange. It is the most important addition to library services of our time. The role of SMS in our lives is growing. Alerts by SMS include weather, air lines, 911, politics, ordering pizza, emergency alerts and more.
More popular that phone calls. Expectation experiential gap.
Contact point, information service, portal.
Text messaging coupons... great application, but the technology isn't there yet.
Social networking: some do it better than others. Facebook isn't even quite there... you can get a message that someone wants to be your friend, but you can't friend them without going to the Facebook application.
Joe engages with ~400 text messages per day for personal communication, news, current awareness and searching.
SMS is now used for so much more than communication; it is also a major way that we engage with info. Journals, higher ed,
SMS transforms the phones in our pockets to discovery devices thru mobile answer and searching devices.
Through Mobile search services such as Google SMS, ChaCha & KGB we search the web and get answers from real people in real time.
Every librarian should have a smart phone... The workstation of the future.
Never believe a librarian who tells you that Web 2.0 is free.
Thru the mobile use of social networking sites, esp twitter and Facebook, we use SMS for seeking info from social circle.
We also use SMS increasingly for knowledge management: tracking and sharing info and resources with SMS alerts.
Libraries can stay relevant in this evolving mobile landscape by offering answer and info services via text messaging.
Joe uses ChaCha and KGB to answer his information needs.
Choosing a technology for SMS reference can be tricky but is THE major concern affecting all aspects of the service.
The major considerations for evaluating SMS ref technologies: cost, staff workflows, meeting patron expectations, flexibility of tool.
Options for tech for SMS reference: SMS/IM mashups, direct with cell phones, web based, SMS/Email conversion software
Using a cell phone is best, gives mobility, no expectation gap, least steps for staff, flexible for future services. Helps bridge the gap between traditional services and virtual services. He recommends the iPhone, but in the next year things will be happening. Security issues: securing the phone, security for the patron.
Does the popularity of twitter make it a viable option for mobile ref or is the patron needing a twitter account too high a barrier?
Get the SMS ref phone # into patron's phones and foster the connection between that contact and their needed info.
We need a carefully planned management structure for SMS ref because it's a major service shift with unique considerations.
Staffing concerns
Mobile literacy: librarians need an emerging skill set for engaging info services thru mobile devises.
joeydigits on flickr - Social Networking Competencies for Librarians
Yale University Science Libraries. @ylescilib blazed the trail...
Tips to start an SMS re program: explore tehs, plan for management, train/play, test, launch. Contact @libraryfuture for assistance.
SMS can expand all ref services and is the keystone to mobile virtual reference.
We can get a good sense of what to expect for the future of SMS ref by keeping a finger on the pulse of SMS and mobile...
Consortia/Collaborations will be important for SMS
The slides will be on flickr www.flickr.com/joeydigits
www.facebook.com/joemurphy3
This was a very exciting session. Lots on interactivity. Lots of good things to consider as we shake up our customer service areas.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
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.
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.
A Quick Review of EBook Devices
Read an EBook week.
The Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville has a guide to ebook devices, that includes youtube videos, etc.
4.5 million netbooks sold each quarter. light, better battery life. being used as ebook readers.
Nintendo DS is being used in Japanese.
Augmented reality... Second time today I've heard this.
I'm loving these AR popup books!!
7 textbook companies have now moved to ebook format (CourseSmart)
Augmented reality coming to iPhone with iPhone OS 3.1
The Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville has a guide to ebook devices, that includes youtube videos, etc.
4.5 million netbooks sold each quarter. light, better battery life. being used as ebook readers.
Nintendo DS is being used in Japanese.
Augmented reality... Second time today I've heard this.
I'm loving these AR popup books!!
7 textbook companies have now moved to ebook format (CourseSmart)
Augmented reality coming to iPhone with iPhone OS 3.1
Cataloging Notices to Cellphone
I've missed a great deal of this one... :( I hope it's going to be online somewhere. The audience asked a lot of questions during the session-- very engaged.
http://delicious.com/tgreenwalt/handheld
Shoutbomb is granted tunnel access to Millennium, as a self-check user. Hold, courtesy and overdue reports are generated, and then automatically processed using a TCL script. The reports are then sent to shoutbomb using SFTP. Shout bomb resolves the report against a list of signed-up patrons (barcodes). Records are stored for 5 days, and then deleted, to ensure patron privacy.
Patrons text a message to the library to signup for this service.
Training staff to send text message to a phone. For example, to Verizon user, the text goes to [number]@vtext.com. Other providers are listed at SMS411.net.
Shoutbomb@gmail.com for more info.
Next step: text message reference. Issues include staff training, recognizing a SMS as it comes in and the 140-character limit. Goals: seamlessness; patron experience; staff workflow; SMS to IM gateway.
tripod.brynmawr.edu; trilogy.brnmawr.edu/trico/sys/sms.html
Web signup at DCPL..
www.snaptell.com; www.kooaba.com
QR codes
Augmented reality (AR). Snappr
http://www.theanalogdivide.com/ is Toby Greenwalt's blog.
http://delicious.com/tgreenwalt/handheld
Shoutbomb is granted tunnel access to Millennium, as a self-check user. Hold, courtesy and overdue reports are generated, and then automatically processed using a TCL script. The reports are then sent to shoutbomb using SFTP. Shout bomb resolves the report against a list of signed-up patrons (barcodes). Records are stored for 5 days, and then deleted, to ensure patron privacy.
Patrons text a message to the library to signup for this service.
Training staff to send text message to a phone. For example, to Verizon user, the text goes to [number]@vtext.com. Other providers are listed at SMS411.net.
Shoutbomb@gmail.com for more info.
Next step: text message reference. Issues include staff training, recognizing a SMS as it comes in and the 140-character limit. Goals: seamlessness; patron experience; staff workflow; SMS to IM gateway.
tripod.brynmawr.edu; trilogy.brnmawr.edu/trico/sys/sms.html
Web signup at DCPL..
www.snaptell.com; www.kooaba.com
QR codes
Augmented reality (AR). Snappr
http://www.theanalogdivide.com/ is Toby Greenwalt's blog.
Notes on the Handheld Librarian Online Conference
Gerry McKiernan's keynote on "Current Mobile Trends in Libraries". Much of the information can be found on his blog, mobile-libraries.blogspot.com
Digital Collections on DukeMobile iPhone app (YouTube)
Facebook EBook Readers in Libraries
Kindle app for iPhone can access Kindle content without having a Kindle. 240,000 Kindle books are avilable for the iPhone or iPod Touch.
WikiMods: wikipedia for mobile phones
Epocrates RX free prescription drug reference
Blackboard Learn for iPhone
Epocrates MobileCME
guides from U of Iowa on pdas
Is the Kindle the future of ILL? Re-Kindling Interlibrary Lon: Amazon's Kindle...
At BYU, Kindle Program on Hold (Library Journal)
Twitter Journals = Journals that Tweet SciTechMed Journals
Twitter for Libraries / Sarah Milstein
Libraries that Twitter
Twittering Libraries Wiki: Prominent Uses in Libraries.
More and more library vendors using twitter
OCLS YouTube on their mobile OPAC
Farkas has info on mobile interaces on the best practices wiki
Reference services: mediated phone reference services for the cellphone user
Skype on iPhone
SMS Library Reference Service Options / Beth Stahr
Text a Librarian http://www.textalibrarian.com/
Mobile Apps for Virtual Learning Environments
Barnes and Noble eBooks
Interactive Mobile Tutorials
Alan Kay (see wikipedia) conceived the Dynabook concept which defined the basics of the laptop computer.
Digital Collections on DukeMobile iPhone app (YouTube)
Facebook EBook Readers in Libraries
Kindle app for iPhone can access Kindle content without having a Kindle. 240,000 Kindle books are avilable for the iPhone or iPod Touch.
WikiMods: wikipedia for mobile phones
Epocrates RX free prescription drug reference
Blackboard Learn for iPhone
Epocrates MobileCME
guides from U of Iowa on pdas
Is the Kindle the future of ILL? Re-Kindling Interlibrary Lon: Amazon's Kindle...
At BYU, Kindle Program on Hold (Library Journal)
Twitter Journals = Journals that Tweet SciTechMed Journals
Twitter for Libraries / Sarah Milstein
Libraries that Twitter
Twittering Libraries Wiki: Prominent Uses in Libraries.
More and more library vendors using twitter
OCLS YouTube on their mobile OPAC
Farkas has info on mobile interaces on the best practices wiki
Reference services: mediated phone reference services for the cellphone user
Skype on iPhone
SMS Library Reference Service Options / Beth Stahr
Text a Librarian http://www.textalibrarian.com/
Mobile Apps for Virtual Learning Environments
Barnes and Noble eBooks
Interactive Mobile Tutorials
Alan Kay (see wikipedia) conceived the Dynabook concept which defined the basics of the laptop computer.
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