IM a Librarian

We have rolled out Instant Messaging reference for the fall semester. I would still like to improve the web page with status indicators and/or logos of the services, but the information is there. Besides the web page, we marketed the service with bright red bookmarks printed with the IM information and IM was mentioned in the promotional material that was sent out for Techology Changes Fall '06, our attempt to get the word out that the Libraries will begin charging for printing on October 20.

We're getting maybe a question a day via IM at the moment--not bad for a new service and the beginning of the semester. We've had a variety of responses from patrons and librarians:

• When I was stationed at the greeting table for orientation, I pushed the red bookmarks. Most students said "cool!" There were a surprising number, however, who said "I don't do that."


• One IM session took an hour--the librarian reported that it could have been done in under ten minutes if the student had come to the desk.


• A student ended an IM session this weekend by writing that it was awesome that the library was offering this service.

The first, and longest, step to getting IM reference at our library was to research the security issues. Two articles proved most useful for that:

• "Naughty but Nice", from SC Magazine UK which focuses on security issues, discusses the scope of the problem--small but growing at an alarming rate.
• The second article, "How 2 Luv IM," from CSO (Chief Security Officer?) magazine, has a good point-by-point discussion of the issues.

The most serious security concern comes from file transfers. At our library, staff members are using either Trillian, which we set to not accept file transfers, or Meebo, which doesn't yet support file transfers. The second security concern involves clicking on links. We have asked people to be as careful about doing that as they are about clicking on attachments to email--or more careful since some viruses can apparently mask themselves as a person on your IM buddy list.

Labels: social software

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