Can U TXT the LBRY?
Posted on 06/29/2007 at 01:12:13 PM by Michael Stephens
In mid June the Mississippi State University Libraries hosted the Mississippi Library 2.0 Summit. Organized by the outstanding librarians of the MSU libraries, the day revolved around explorations of user-centered technologies. I was present to open the day with a talk about the Hyperlinked Library. Sessions on Second Life, Facebook, Library 2.0 and blogging rounded out the day, which also included a panel discussion by MSU librarians sharing details of their Library 2.0 journey, an outstanding presentation by the two Nashville Public Library teen librarians, and some informative poster presentations.One of the many highlights of a full and rich day-long conference was the chance to sit in on a presentation by Angela Dunnington, Coordinator of Library Science, and Beth Stahr, Interim Head of Reference, from Southeastern Louisiana University. SELU is nestled between New Orleans and Baton Rouge and has a student population of 15,000. The library received a grant in 2005 to implement short messaging service for text reference.
We talk these days about going where the users are. What the librarians at SELU noted was the prevalence of students using text messaging to communicate with each other. Could the library have a place there? Should the library try? One thing is for sure, the experience is useful to consider as we look for more ways to reach our users and their information needs.
The presentation offered an in-depth look at the service. Angela covered the nuts and bolts. “The product is virtually very inexpensive,” she said. For roughly $1100 to startup, the service provided by a vendor in Australia includes a phone number for the library and a bundle of 1000 messages per year. After two years of providing the service, the SELU library is going to renew the product.Angela noted that “the 'Send by SMS' tool works with existing email systems and simplifies the creation of SMS/Chat abbreviations.” The text service was added to their Web page and was designed to “capture the attention of the users.” The text number (011-6142-898-7358) is an Australian number that students can text to with their questions.
How does it work? Here's a breakdown as described by Angela:
- Student sends a message
- Message goes to server in Australia
- Text message is converted into an email message
- Email message arrives in library's mailbox
- Question is answered and the process reverses
Many of the librarians learned to use text messaging in a time of crisis. After Katrina, when Beth was without a home phone for two months, she realized how easy it was to learn to text. It was the only communication option available to many of the SELU librarians at that time. “The librarians learned to text message when everything else was down,” she said.
Beth discussed the challenges and promotion of the service. She was honest about the drawbacks. Limitations include the fact that SMS is viewed as a less serious form of communication by students, the limit of 160 characters per message restricts its utility for reference communications, other more convenient reference options are available, and the Australian phone number may not work with some students' phones. The vendor in Australia is looking for a North American partner to offer North American numbers.
“Sometimes," she said, "there is a better way to get information than texting…”
Beth reported that usage of SMS reference has been low, especially when compared to other channels for reference in the library. In the 2005-2006 year, the usage rates were as follows:
SMS Questions: 84
Email Questions: 489
Chat 24/7 Questions: 1060
Even with the low numbers, the librarians were positive about the service and believed it had a place in their library. They offered that the service needs to be marketed – and sustained and repeated as students come and go. Promotions of the text-a-librarian service include: information kiosk, the “Text a librarian/Taste of Australia” contest, campus media, business cards, library “scrap” note paper, table tents, mousepads, and posters. They incorporated texting into their suite of reference services branding. The information kiosk was located at the student union to promote the library and the service and included a laptop, marketing materials, etc.Beth detailed other uses of text messaging that might be more successful, including library outreach, instruction/learning, ILL alerts, overdue material alerts, and the SMS broadcast of messages promoting special library events and tours. This, she noted, “Might be a better way to reach students who do not use their university email as often as we might expect.”
There are all sorts of good reasons to use this type of service. “It has been an easy, inexpensive service to offer to our students, we just need to market it more out there where they are.”
It was fascinating to get this glimpse of a service that only a few libraries may be offering or even considering. This is a pioneer field. Trendspotting librarians might take note: what these brave folks are doing out on the edge of our market may pave the way for wider use of SMS for reference and information services.
Posted in Reference Services, SMS (Short Message Service)
5 Comments
In what circumstances would a person prefer text messaging to speaking with someone on the phone? I can imagine a student sitting in classroom. Would this be the typical situation? Can text messaging sessions be retrieved later?
There are a variety of circumstances when one prefers not to make noise, or is too noisy to talk. Yes, sessions can be retrieved. On the library end this looks just like email, the way they have it set up.
Some people are more comfortable sending a message (via text or email) rather than speaking on the phone. Not just environmentally speaking.
In response to Larry - I actually prefer to txt instead of calling. For instance 411 (even Google 411) - instead of calling I just txt Google and find phone numbers and addresses that way instead of having to listen to automated information. I would also use it for more casual questions that my husband and I are having a disagreement on, instead of calling up . I think it makes more sense then calling and it doesn't rack up the minutes, which many people don't have landlines... Just a thought. Oh and the types of phones - many new cell phones have a keypad instead of the traditional numberpad
Support for txt/sms messaging for reference was one of the things I was specifically shopping for at the ALA exhibits, and I found only this one vendor. It looks like a nice product, but the long offshore phone number would be a barrier to our users I think. I really hope they find a North American partner. OCLC is going to bring out a 'lightweight chat' component to their e-reference product which would work for those with a web-enabled phone, but that's still a minority of phone users. Since being back, I have found a little buzz around using Twitter for this since you can send messages into Twitter from a phone, and I've run across this website using Twitter for reference: http://twitter.com/NLC_Reference/
