Conclusion to my blog on Instant Messaging (IM) in Libraries!

This blog was created for my LIBR 500 Foundations of Information Technology course in the School Of Library, Archival, and Information Studies, at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada. This post is the conclusion to my blog, and to start at the beginning, you need to scroll to the bottom of this page and work your way up. The photo in the header of this page is one I took of Shelly Beach in Port Macquarie, Australia, which I visited immediately before I started this course. I love having this photo on my blog, because as I worked on this project, it reminded me of the wide world outside of my computer screen. I think that modern information technology is great, but I prefer spending time in the natural world over time spent in virtual worlds.

The overall topic of this blog is Web 2.0 Technologies: Tools and Services in Libraries, and the web 2.0 service I reviewed and evaluated is instant messaging (IM). There is a simple definition of web 2.0 on Wikipedia. Web 2.0 is about connecting and collaborating with others through the use of the internet. In many libraries, there has been a move towards exploring and adopting some of these services to better serve the information needs of library patrons. While some services require a substantial investment of time and money by libraries, instant messaging is an ideal service for libraries to add because it is available for free. There is still a time commitment required by a librarian to staff the service, but I saw in my review that many libraries are doing this while they do other tasks in the library.

I think that instant messaging services in libraries compliment their existing reference services, especially when it is easily accessible on the libraries homepage, and there are clear instructions on how to use the service. The easiest way for a user to use IM on a library website is a clear link from the homepage to an “Ask a Librarian” or “Ask Us” page, and a link to a webpage that is specific to instant messaging. On the instant messaging page, there should be a simple chat box for users to directly type their question into. The use of these chat boxes can be enhanced by having clear instructions, hours of service, and frequently asked questions on the same page. The page could also include email addresses for other IM service providers, but I would suggest putting these under the chat text box, so that first time users are not confused.

For the purposes of this assignment, I focused on libraries that use instant messaging as a one-to-one service, as opposed to libraries that use collaborative services. I think these services are a wonderful compliment to IM services, as they can offer a 24/7 service, and cover the hours that the local IM service is unavailable. I would not recommend replacing an IM service with a collaborative service, because IM is specific to the library that the user is directing their question to. In a collaborative service, usually state or province wide, users are often having their question answered by librarians from many locations, and who may have general knowledge about many subjects, whereas one-to-one IM directs their question to a specific library or librarian. This can be very useful if the user has a specific inquiry that is locally relevant, or requires a subject librarian in a particular discipline like chemistry, for example.

For anyone reading this blog who is new to instant messaging, I will repeat my definition of instant messaging, and also a look at how instant messaging works from my Introduction. To learn more about using IM, see this short summary: 7 things you should know about Instant Messaging. You can also look at the links, videos, and blogs in the right hand sidebar of this blog to get some more information. I especially like the YouTube video, Instant Message Me, which has a Mom and a daughter using instant messaging to talk over the internet. Now that this blog is finished, I look forward to spending more time talking to my daughter face-to-face.

I welcome anyone who is using instant messaging in a library setting to comment, and to include links to the page(s) of their library website that shows their instant messaging service options.

Cheers, Karen Hudson

 

Instant Messaging at the Edmonton Public Library

From my review of instant messaging at the Ottawa Public Library in Ontario, I thought I would proceed west to Edmonton, Alberta, to finish my look at Instant Messaging in public libraries back in western Canada, to make a circular route back to British Columbia to wrap up this blog.

On the homepage of the Edmonton Public Library, there are two easy routes to take to the instant message service. You can hit the My Services button and then you will see the Ask a Question link on the My Services page, or you can choose the “Ask a Question” button under the My Services text in the body of the library’s homepage. The Ask a Librarian IM service is very integrated with the other services offered by the library. I didn’t notice any other web 2.0 tools on the homepage.

The Ask a Question page is bright and colourful, and the first thing you notice (in the image below) is a Meebo widget, that says the “Edmonton public Library is offline. Regular chat hours are Monday-Friday 9am -8:30pm”.

To the right of the Meebo widget, there is an Email Reference link to the Alberta Library’s Ask a Question interface. This is a 24/7 virtual reference service that is a collaboration of academic and public libraries in Alberta. A quick look at the participating libraries, reminds me of the British Columbia collaborative AskAway virtual reference service.

There is no explanation of the IM service on the Ask a Question page, even though it is very clear that the service is open an impressive 57 hours a week. The Meebo widget makes it very easy for to use, even for a first time user, and I would want to use this service if I was a patron of the library.

The recommendations I have for the Edmonton Public Library to improve its IM service are to add an explanation of IM, and develop and add frequently asked questions (perhaps based on the UNC University Libraries FAQs). This is an attractive and simple service that might encourage more users with some more information about what IM is and how to use it, and with some frequently asked questions. These additions may also help the librarians staffing the service as they will be getting questions from users who are more informed about the service.

 

Instant Messaging at the Ottawa Public Library

From my review of instant messaging at the Windsor Public Library in Ontario, I thought I would proceed north to Canada’s capital city, Ottawa, and look at the Ottawa Public Library’s IM service. On the Ottawa Public Library’s homepage, the instant messaging service is clearly visible by the “Ask a Question” button in the top heading for the library’s homepage, as seen below. Please also note also the other web 2.0 tool, the RSS feed button, next to the Ask button.

The “Ask a Question” button leads you to the Ask a Question page as seen below.

The Ask a Question page includes Ask a Librarian, Get Technical Support, Feedback and Suggest a Title for the collection. The Ask a Librarian section includes: E-Mail, Phone, Instant Messaging, In-person, Tours, and Workshops, and Instant Messaging fits in well with the other services offered by the library.  Under each of these are very short descriptions, and the longest is under Instant messaging. It says, “Send us an instant message when you need research help or have a library question. We use MSN Messenger – add ref@BiblioOttawaLibrary.ca to your contacts list. Hours: Monday to Friday, 3-6 p.m. We will not answer personal questions or questions that contain offensive language. We reserve the right to end inappropriate conversations.”

This limited explanation of the IM service tells the user that the service is open 15 hours a week, gives an email address, and warns the user about appropriate language. This would probably lead the user who does not use MSN messenger to go elsewhere for assistance, and the inexperienced user to try the link to MSN Messenger. When you hit the link to MSN Messenger, you are taken to at least two pages full of text, so I quit and came back to the library. I would not use this service because I don’t have MSN Messenger, and I think that by only using one service provider, it really limits the number of users who might otherwise use this service. I think it would be quite difficult for someone to use this service who had never used IM before.

After looking at the limited IM service, I went back to the About the Library page in bewilderment to check if I had read correctly that Ottawa Public Library is “the largest bilingual English-French library system in North America”. Only when I went back did I see that there is a link to the Virtual Reference Library. The About Us tab says that the Virtual Reference Library was launched in 1999, and works in partnership with library systems across Ontario to provide access around the clock to content and services specifically targeted to Ontarians.

The biggest recommendation I have for the Ottawa Public Library to improve its IM service is to develop a separate webpage that users would link to from the Instant Messaging on the Ask a Question page. On this page, they could list the daily hours (which could also be expanded) that the service is available, add an explanation of IM, add frequently asked questions (perhaps based on the UNC University Libraries FAQs), and add more service providers, including a Meebo widget so that users can enter a question right into the webpage.

 

Instant Messaging at Windsor Public Library

As I started my review of instant messaging in public libraries at the Hackley Public Library in Muskegon, Michigan, and then was unsuccessful at finding IM at the Ann Arbor District Library, I thought I would jump over the border to the Windsor Public Library in Ontario, Canada.

On the Windsor Public Library homepage, the instant messaging is clearly visible by the “Let’s Chat!” button in the top heading for the library’s homepage, as seen above. There is also an “Ask a Librarian” link further down the page and in the links under the “Services” button, but both of these links lead you to an email web form, and a fee-for-service option. In a quick search of the library website, I don’t see any other web 2.0 tools.

The “Let’s Chat” button leads to a Chat with a Librarian page as seen below.

The Chat with a Librarian page includes “Chat with a librarian: FAQ’s”, which include the questions: What is it?, How does it work?, What are the Technical Requirements?, as well as Important Privacy Information. These are very simple and short answers, but they give the user important information including a description of the service, how it works, and that you don’t have to download any software to use the service. I think this page answer the basic questions that a user would need answered to try this service. When I click the: “Questions? Click here for Live Help” button, I am taken to a live session, and the librarian comes on immediately, and asks me two questions. As I had the librarian there asking if I had any questions, I decided to ask some questions for this assignment, which you can see in the chat transcript below.

At all of the six libraries that I have reviewed so far, when I tried the service, a live librarian did not come online. At most of the libraries, it was because there wasn’t a librarian online when I checked (repeatedly), but it also would have been necessary for me to enter a question and then hit enter (in a Meebo form) to activate the librarian’s response. This “instant message” response must be in part due to the Windsor Public Library’s use of LIVEperson software. This option is a good one because of the instant activation, and also because the chat screen opens up on the entire page. I think that having the librarian come on instantly makes the user more likely to use the service. I was just checking the service, and when I saw that there was a live person asking me two questions, I felt like I had to respond. So, I would definitely be a user of this service, and I think a user visiting the site for the first time would find it simple to use as well.

The recommendations I have for Windsor Public Library to improve this service are to put the daily hours (see chat transcript above) that the service is available on the Chat with a Librarian page, and to include a mention of the IM service on the “Ask a Librarian” page. Even though the Let’s Chat button is very prominent on the homepage,  it would fit in better with the other library services if it was included as part of the Ask a Librarian page. The library might also want to look at my last blog post about UNC University Libraries to expand their frequently asked questions.

The librarian that I was chatting with might want to look at the Walking Paper blog about the benefits of IM, to make a case for keeping IM, even if they join the another virtual reference service, as she/he mentioned in our chat session above.The librarian may also want to look at the The Strange Librarian blog IM verus Chat: What’s Better for Customer Service. She contrasts the collaborative virtual reference networks with the local library expertise of IM reference. She found that the use of both tools ultimately provides the best range of service, the collaboration of virtual reference provides a wider range of hours (24 hours of the day, 7 days per week), but also offers specific help during the library’s open hours.

Thank you so much to the librarian from the Windsor Public Library central branch for chatting with me, and giving me permission to use our chat transcript in my blog. Please make a comment if you read this and have any information to add about your IM service.

 

Instant Messaging at UNC (University of North Carolina) University Libraries

I was interested in reviewing the instant messaging services at UNC University Libraries, due to two presentations I read on Web Junction regarding UNC University Libraries instant messaging services. The first presentation, r u there?: Adding Instant Messaging to an Established Virtual Reference Service, is related to the decision and impact of Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill, libraries adding instant messaging as a parallel service to their commercial virtual reference software and existing reference services. As I said in my post on Duke University Libraries, it is a good overview of adding IM to a library reference system. The second presentation, A Tale of Two Screen Names: How IM is Changing Virtual Reference at UNC-Chapel Hill, compares and contrasts two separately administered “IM a Librarian” services offered by the UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries, one at the House Undergraduate Library, and one at Davis Library. Since both studies focus on the Davis Library, I am going to review the IM services at that library.

On the homepage of UNC University Libraries, under the “Research Help” heading in the body of the page, there is an obvious “Ask a Librarian” choice, under a long list of other library services including e-reference links, subject guides and tutorials. Next to the Ask a Librarian link, there is a My Library, Renew books choice in the same style and colors, and these services seem to fit very well together and as part of the other library services. Under the Ask a Librarian link, it says “email, chat, phone IM”, which was something that I haven’t seen on other library websites. The other web 2.0 service on the homepage is a link to News and Events RSS Feeds, which takes you to a list of nineteen news feeds available from the library.

The Ask a Librarian link takes you to a Need Help? Ask Us page, and immediately below the hours and privacy links, a message said, “We’re Online, Click to Chat Now”. I clicked this button, and a very simple Meebo form opened up with “Available Davis Reference Chat” at the top of two boxes. Below the box it said, “You can also contact us directly through IM: AIM, Yahoo, Googletalk: davisrefdesk, MSN (Windows Live): davisrefdesk@hotmail.com”.

The first heading on the Need Help? Ask Us page “Chat Online”, says “No accounts or downloads required” and has links to [Chat Hours | Privacy Info ]. The link from Chat Hours leads to a Chat with a Librarian page. The chat hours are extensive, with this service available daily including, 9am – midnight from Monday – Thursday. Underneath the hours, there were two headings for more information: the first “Do you IM?” says, “Many campus libraries also offer IM help via AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger, and GoogleTalk” and includes a link to IM a Librarian services and hours. The next heading, “After Hours” says, “If our service is closed, get help from NCknows, a state-wide library chat service”, and includes a link to NCKnows 24-hour library help, which is staffed by librarians from academic, public and specialty libraries. By coordinating with participating libraries across the state and other libraries across the country, they are able to offer help around the clock. This service is a great addition to the IM services offered by UNC University Libraries, and its addition on this page, compliments the IM service well.

Back to the Need Help? Ask Us page, if you select the link to the Davis Library Reference Desk from the list of seven IM choices, you will be sent to the IM a Librarian at Davis Library page, which I will come back to. When I chose the IM a Librarian services and hours from the Chat with a Librarian page, I was directed to a page, entitled, “Ask A Librarian – Instant Messenger (IM)” as seen below, which has a very useful clear table of library, screen name, and type of IM service provider available to use to contact these libraries.

You can also get to the Davis reference chat by selecting Davis Library Reference Desk, and then you are taken to Davis Library Reference Department. Here you select the cute nametag, that says, “Hello, my Buddy name is davisrefdesk, online now”, which takes you to IM a Librarian at Davis Library, as seen below. Having multiple pathways to this service most likely helps users find it, and is a useful way to encourage use of this service.

The IM a Librarian at Davis Library page above is a the best IM page I have seen so far, as it has the contacts, service providers, hours (including special hours), an example of an IM session, links to the other UNC libraries IM services, and a list of eight “Frequently Asked Questions about IM a Librarian”. The questions are:

• I don’t use Instant Messenger. How do I get started?
• Will I need to wait to IM with the librarian?
• How do I IM a librarian?
• I don’t use Instant Messenger. How do I get started?
• Restrictions on your computer, or don’t want to download AIM?
• What if I use Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger, or Jabber?
• Do other libraries at Carolina offer IM a Librarian service?
• I am a librarian. How do I start a service like this at my library?

This page with all of the detail and assistance to the user, especially the first time user, makes this an extremely user-friendly service. I think most new users would choose the option of the Meebo form, but due to the FAQ’s, a new user might try signing up for another service provider, too. I would definitely use this service. Those who are already experienced at IM might also learn something from this page. I think that by providing the FAQ’s, the reference librarians who have to answer the question, have a more educated user than libraries who just have a form and limited instructions.

My first impression of the UNC Universities Libraries was that it must be confusing for users to have IM services presented and accessed in completely different ways at all of the different libraries. I would suggest that UNC make more of a standard for these services and their entry pages among all of their libraries. The presentation, A Tale of Two Screen Names: How IM is Changing Virtual Reference at UNC-Chapel Hill, says that the services at two of the UNC libraries are able to coexist without diminishing each other, so maybe this isn’t necessary, but I think it would be helpful for the first time user.

Now that I have found an excellent example of instant messaging at an academic library, I am going to look at some more examples of IM at public libraries.

 

Instant Messaging at Duke University Libraries

I was interested in reviewing the instant messaging services at Duke University Libraries, due to a presentation on Web Junction involving Duke University Libraries adding an instant messaging service. It is called r u there?: Adding Instant Messaging to an Established Virtual Reference Service, and the presentation related to the decision of Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill libraries to add instant messaging as a parallel service to their commercial virtual reference software and existing reference services, and its impact. It is a good overview of adding IM to a library reference system.

On the homepage of Duke University Libraries, under the “Research Help” heading in the body of the page, there is an obvious “Ask a Librarian” choice, included with a long list of other library services including interlibrary loan, reserves and my account. The other web 2.0 service on the homepage is a link to Library RSS Feeds, which takes you to a list of thirteen feeds available from the library.

The Ask a Librarian link takes you to an Ask Us page, which has four options: Live Help, Phone Help, Email Us, and Research Consultation, which all fit together well as services offered by Duke. The page is in the school colours of bright blue and white, and set up in an organised way, with the phone and IM options in tables on the left, and the email and research consultation web forms on the right hand side of the page. The table for IM, instead of being a list of IM service providers, as was seen in the other libraries I have reviewed so far, is a list of four libraries, with library name as a link, screen name and availability, as seen below.

Each of the links takes you to the instant message page one of the four libraries: Divinity School Library, Medical Center Library, Law School Library, or Perkins/Bostock Library. It was interesting to look at how each of the libraries presents IM services, and I was surprised to find that they are all extremely different! For the purposes of this post, I am going to concentrate on the Perkins/Bostock Library, the library on which the preceding study was based. The Library link takes you to a Perkins Bostock Reference page, which is very simple with the same four options on the main Ask Us page of the library: Live Help, Phone Help, Email Us, and Research Consultation. This seems a bit repetitive, but now it is specific to this library, not to all of Duke University Libraries. The running man AIM icon is there next to the words Instant Message and you can click there or the man icon. On the right hand side of the page there is a box, where you can type in your query. The top of the box says “Duke University”, and immediately below this it says,” Dukeref is offline leave a message”. You can type in your question where it says, “Type here and hit enter to send an offline message”, or you can click on the Meebo link to get your own free Meebo widget to IM. You will notice in the screen shot of the Ask Us page, that no service hours are given for Dukeref, it just shows the man icon and says “offline’.

So, as Dukeref is offline, and there is no indication for me, or for Duke University students, on this page when Dukeref will be online, I click on the link to instant message. This takes me to the Instant Message a Duke Librarian page. The first text under the title says (next to the running man again) “Our screen name is DUKEREF. Add us to your buddy list today!” Then there are six options under three headings. The first option is “If you have a screen name, you can connect to AIM anywhere online: “Connect to AIM Express, the web only version of AOL IM” or “Connect to AIM through Meebo, a web only client”. The second choice is “If you already have AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) installed and running: Automatically ask Dukeref a search or library question”, or “Automatically add Dukeref to your Buddy List”. The third choice is “If you don’t have AIM installed or need an AIM Screen Name:Download AIM or Get an AIM Screen Name”.

Are you confused yet? I know I am. Duke University Libraries has obviously gone to a lot of trouble to offer users many IM options, but the multiple pages, and overwhelming number of choices would leave most users completely bewildered. I would not choose to use this service, by the second page and no IM service; I would have tried something else. At the bottom of the Ask a Librarian page, there is another option for users: “Online Reference help available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week”. So when the IM is closed, users can click on NCknows, the State Library of North Carolina’s online reference project, staffed by librarians from throughout North Carolina.

If the user knew when to IM Dukeref in the Meebo form, I think most users would choose that option, but as no hours are listed for this service, that isn’t clear either. If the user goes online when the librarian is there, I think a new user would find the Meebo form very easy to use. As I said of the MSU library Meebo service due to its limited hours, this IM service becomes a default email webform. To improve this service, Duke University Libraries should list hours, and cut out the multiple pages and options to simplify the way users’ access and use its IM.

 

Instant Messaging at Michigan State University Library

As I said in my last post in which I examined instant messaging at the University of Michigan Library, I now need to review instant messaging at the Michigan State University (MSU) Library, in fairness to the six alumni of these institutions in my immediate family. As an MSU graduate, I am very familiar with the MSU Library. On the homepage of the library, there are five RSS feeds under the “What’s New” heading in the body of the page, and in the top right corner of the page, there is a balloon with a question mark in it next to the words “Ask A Librarian”. The balloon is white against a green background, reflecting MSU’s trademark school colours, but it also provides a distinct contract and makes the balloon stand out from the page.

The Ask a Librarian page above is also in vivid green and white, and set up in a very linear way with all of the options in boxes, with a brief description next to the choices. This is the best “Ask a Librarian” page that I have seen so far in terms of readability. There are six options, with “web chat” and “instant message being the first two options, and they fit in really well with the other options. The green and white colors makes them all look very similar, and I think that it gives an impression that they are all related services. The other options include email, phone, subject specialist, and in person. There is a long list of subject specialists, but the options for contact are limited to phone and email. The” web chat” option leads to two options; the first is Research Help Now!, a service that uses QuestionPoint , and is described as “Michigan’s Virtual Reference service staffed by librarians at MSU and across Michigan”, and the second is Government Information Online (GIO) , which also uses QuestionPoint and is described as, “consult with librarians who are experts at finding national, international, state and local information”. Both of these services were unavailable when I checked.

The Instant message option links to an “IM a Librarian” page, where it very clearly says, “Use your favorite instant messenger to chat with a MSU librarian! Or use the chat form on this page to talk to us”. The hours are limited to “Monday – Friday: 12pm to 4pm when school is in session”, which only makes the service available 20 hours a week, during times when most students are in class. This is a major limitation of this service for an academic library that is open 24 hours a day for 4 days a week, and until midnight two other days. MSU needs to change to the University of Michigan Library’s service hours, which are whenever the library is open, so that students can ask questions after class until midnight four days a week.

On the left side of the I’m a Librarian page; there are four options for those who want to use their own instant messenger, including AIM, Google, MSN, and Yahoo. This is the first library where I have seen Google Talk, so I will add a link. Links to the other services can be found in preceding posts. None of these services have live links or email addresses, just the icon of the service, with an email address, so users have to cut and paste the email address into their IM program. If you haven’t used IM before, you would not know what to do with the email address.

The option on the right hand side of the page is a box, and at the top of the box it says “Ask Us”, and it says, “MSU Librarian is offline leave a message” (see limited hours above). Below this message is a box where you can type in your query. You can type in your question where it says, “Type here and hit enter to send an offline message”, or you can click on the Meebo link to get your own free Meebo widget. By having such limited hours, this IM service becomes a default email webform. When the user checks the service during the hours it is available, I think that the Meebo widget would be very easy for someone to use for the first time. If I was a student at MSU again, I don’t know if I would use this service. It is laid out very attractively, but I might not ever have the possibility to try it during the open hours.

Despite the distinct visuals, and IM service clarity, I think that MSU Library’s IM service is so limited by its hours that it makes the service almost unusable for students. It is very easy to put a question in the box, and send to the librarian, but why not just send an email to the specific subject librarian if no one is there to instantly answer your question.

A final note about Michigan State University Library’s use of IM. In 2005, a presentation was given about MSU and IM called, Adoption of Instant Messaging for Chat at a Research Library in Conjunction with the Formal Chat Software Used. The presentation looked at training issues, product selection, and publicity. At the time MSU Library was using Docutek and instant messaging software on a trial basis. The plan was that after collecting statistics, they would make a decision to keep one, or both, pieces of software. Michigan State Library shows up on the homepage of the Docutek website, with a link to another page about MSU Library, they chose this software although there was no mention of it on the library website.

 

Instant Messaging at the University of Michigan Library

m Hackley Public Library in Muskegon Michigan, I thought I would move across the state to the Ann Arbor area to review how a library in the eastern part of the state offers instant messaging services. On the Ann Arbor District Library’s homepage, I immediately see that they have a blog running down the left-hand side of the page. As Ann Arbor is the home of the University of Michigan, a top research university, I thought that the library serving the public in this community might have web 2.0 tools. I don’t see anything about instant messaging or “ask us” from the homepage, so I try the “Contact Us” button, and I am led to the Contact Us page. There is a contact us form on the page, but the sidebar clearly shows an Ask a Librarian link. This link leads to the Ask a Librarian page, where there are many options, including renewals, interlibrary loan, comments, and phone numbers. The first link says, “Email us for Brief, factual answers to reference questions”, but it is an email web form, and there are no IM options.

So, I decided to have a look at the University of Michigan Library. As my family is divided between U of M, and MSU (Michigan State University) alumni, I will need to evaluate MSU Library’s instant messaging services next in fairness to all. On the homepage of the library, there is an obvious question mark symbol with the words, “Ask Us (Ask a Librarian)” under “Help” in the left sidebar. The page Need Help? Ask Us! as seen below, has four options: instant messaging, email, phone and in person, so the IM service fits in well with the other services offered by U of M, but it has not been included with any other web 2.0 tools. There is a link to a “how do I?” page, but this page does not include instructions for how to use instant messaging, or mention IM at all.

Next to the words, instant messaging, it says, “umlibraryaskus@umich.edu with your AOL, MSN or Yahoo IM account”. The email address and the various service providers are not active links, so if you haven’t used IM before, you would not have an idea what to do with this email address. Most users unfamiliar with this service would most likely cut and paste that email address into their email program, and send an email. Luckily, there is another option in the upper right hand corner which says, “IM us here without an IM account! We are online during library service hours”, and below is a box, where you can type in your query. The top of the box says “Ask Us”, and immediately below this it says in bright orange letters” umlibraryaskus is online”. You can type in your question where it says, “Type here and hit enter to send a private message”, or you can click on the Meebo link to get your own free Meebo widget to IM.

Meebo is an IM tool, which is embedded into the webpage. To get an idea of ease of use, check the sidebar of this blog, in which I’ve inserted a Meebo IM Me widget. It is very easy to use, the user clicks on the text entry box, types the question, and then hits enter.

There is a note at the bottom that says, “if we are not online, please choose another method at the left to contact us”. The service is available when the library is open, and as it is open until midnight five days a week, this is a very wide range for students to use this service. Despite needing a short explanation of IM, I think that the U of M Library has a very user-friendly IM service. It think that it would be very easy for a first time user to put a question in the box, and send to the librarian, and it is very obvious that someone is there. This service is very usable, and I would want to use it if I was a student, but users could be confused by the option to the left of the box. I would suggest explaining the IM option through the other providers, and explain that you have to sign up with one of those services, open the service, and insert the email address. It is much easier to just use the free service, but perhaps users want to use their own service, and so the other option is there for those already using IM.

 

Instant Messaging at Hackley Public Library

After my look at instant messaging at UBC, I thought I would look at some public libraries in B.C. and how they handle instant messaging. I looked at the Ask a Librarian pages on the websites of the Vancouver Public Library, North Vancouver District Library, West Vancouver Memorial Library, Richmond Public Library, Greater Victoria Public Library and Vancouver Island Regional Library, and was surprised to find that not one of them offers instant messaging. It may be that these libraries, which are all part of the AskAway virtual reference network, feel that that service is covering their chat services. For the purposes of this assignment, I am looking at libraries who use instant messaging as a on-to-one service, and not looking at libraries who are using advanced software like QuestionPoint. One main difference is that with collaborative services such as AskAway, users are having their question answered by librarians from many locations. With one-to-one IM, users can direct their question to a specific librarian, which is very useful if they have a specific inquiry that needs a subject librarian in chemistry, for example.

I looked at the Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki page Libraries using IM Reference for Canada, and there are no listings for B.C. I also looked at the LIS wiki and its Chat reference libraries page and there I did find B.C. libraries listed. The Ask a Librarian link at New Westminster Library took me directly to the AskAway page. As I had already looked at the other two public libraries listed there, I decided to look at two academic libraries besides UBC listed, Simon Fraser University Library (SFU) and the University of Victoria, but they also did not offer IM on their Ask a Librarian and Ask Us pages.

What I need is a website that has a comprehensive list of all the libraries in Canada that use instant messaging. The I am a Librarian website has a great list of all of the U.S. states and a by clicking on a state, you are taken to a page of all of the libraries (as of 2006) in that state that have instant messaging. I chose Michigan because that is where I am from, and I found two public libraries on the long list. On the Salem-South Lyon District library page, the Salem librarians have little icons that look like people running under their names, but the URLs can not be found.

The other public library on the Michigan page is the Hackley Public Library. On the Hackley Public Library homepage, I also see the running person icon and above it, it says “Have a question? Ask it using IM! We are on ICQ, Yahoo, AIM, and MSN”, so the little running person is an instant messaging program. So, since I have found out that this public library, which serves a population of 40,000 in Muskegon, Michigan, has instant messaging, I though I would review and evaluate its instant messaging service.

The instant messaging is clearly visible on the Hackley homepage, right under the Hackley’s Blog, and the two web 2.0 tools fit in well with the other tools and service offered by the library on the page. The link “Have a question? Ask it using IM!” takes you to the page Virtual, Real-time Reference, as seen below. The instructions available on the page consist of: “Would you like to be able to ask your reference questions in real time, through instant messaging? The IM service will be available during regular, open hours of the Library.” The button takes you to Yahoo to sign up, so that is not the easiest route to take. The library is open 57 hours a week, so that is a big window for patrons to use IM, the extended hours for a small library would be a big factor in patrons using this service, as there would be a good chance of seeing someone online when the patron visits this page.

Under the hours, it says, “Our screen names are” and then lists three screen names next to four icons. The running person is an AIM icon, so I know the source of that one now, then there is also MSN butterfly logo (see last post on UBC Library), and Yahoo Messenger, and icq. When you click on these four icons, you are taken directly to the company’s websites and asked to sign up to use their version of instant messaging. I think this is confusing, and as a library user I think I would shut the page, and decide not to use this method instead of signing up. If you ignore these icons, underneath them you see, the statement, “If you don’t have an IM client, try PLUGOO, just type your question where it says “your message”. You can see how this looks on the page Virtual, Real-time Reference below.

To see some issues about PLUGOO, see the Library 2.0 blog. This IM method is much simpler because you can type into a text box, so this is a great simple option for users. I think that if my great Aunt Esther, who lives in Muskegon, managed to get to the IM page, she would give give up in confusion because of the lack of further instructions. That said, my Aunt Esther is 87 and may not have used the internet before, but perhaps her grandchildren would use this service for homework help.

I thought it was very interesting that there is a note at the bottom of the page that says, “This will be part of our regular reference service, along with our in-person and telephone reference services. In other words, the same person will be answering all types of questions at the same time, so please be patient.” This is a very helpful note, which tells users, who may be expecting immediate answers in the fast paced internet environment, that one person is doing many jobs, but will get to them. This note may help that busy librarian by educating users about what to expect form the IM service before they get there.

Despite needing an explanation of what IM is, I am impressed that this library offers this service. At the bottom of the page, there is a box that says: Questions? Email a Librarian Or– IM a Librarian! These services go well together, and this box is nice, but I would put it at the top of the page where it is easier to see. The librarian was offline at 10pm on a Sunday night when I looked at this service, so I don’t know how the box appears when the librarian is online. I think that a first time user could easily use this service, if they can ignore the various service provider options and just go directly to the PLUGOO box, and enter a question.

I came back to this website and tried the IM under the heading, “If you don’t have an IM client, try PLUGOO, just type your question where it says “your message”. It was very easy to put a question in the box, and send to the librarian. It is very obvious that someone is there now as it says in the little box, “I’m online, please feel free to chat with me”. This service is quite usable, but users could be confused by the five options above the PLUGGO box. I think that by simplifying this service, users would be much more likely to use it. I would put the PLUGGO text box, under an explanation of what IM is, near the top of the Virtual, Real-time Reference page. If I was a Hackley Public Library user, I would probably use this service through the PLUGOO box.

 

Instant Messaging at UBC Library

The first library I looked at to review and evaluate its instant messaging service, is the library at The University of British Columbia, where I am enrolled in the School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies. The UBC Library homepage does not have any references to instant messaging on its homepage. Under the “Find” option on the homepage, there is the word “help” in capitals, and when you click on the HELP, it takes you to the Ask a Librarian page. I don’t think that the help button is effective as the only way for library patrons to find the instant messaging service from the homepage. As the help button is found under a list of items in the library’s catalogue including books, videos, articles/papers, and databases and journals, the help link seems to be related to a catalogue function, not a link to live reference services. A more useful button would be one that names the service, I would have it say Ask a Librarian, and then have it link to the page.

On the Ask a Librarian page above, there is a list of options for assistance. This is an attractive, colourful page with six options for assistance, including in person, phone, email, frequently asked questions, and two web 2.0 tools: instant messaging and virtual reference. Each option has a colour icon that is a link, and the two web 2.0 tools fit in well with the other tools and service offered by the library on the page. The fifth option says, “By instant messaging: Chat online with a UBC librarian. To see who’s online now please visit our subject librarians page.” The little online button for instant messaging has the word online in a circle, and appears to have a butterfly perched on the side of it. When the librarians are online, the butterfly icon changes from ofline to online, and the butterfIy changes from black and white to colour. I didn’t understand how a butterfly related to instant messaging (as butterflies are slow moving creatures), until a search revealed that the butterfly is a Microsoft logo, launched as part of their “It’s Better With the Butterfly” marketing campaign in 2002. So, why is the UBC Library using a corporate logo on their website to symbolize instant messaging? Perhaps the deal that UBC library made with Microsoft included mandatory use of the logo. I found an interesting website called tech-recipes when I was looking up the butterfly logo, and it shows how to remove the butterfly logo from your desktop.

Going back to the subject librarians page, all of UBC’s one hundred subject librarians who show an instant messaging service are using MSN Messenger, and two librarians also have Google Talk listed. When I tried the MSN IM service by clicking on the icon, a message came up in a new page that said, “Sending a message to” folowed by the email address of the subject librarian, and then nothing happened. I think that a first time user would  not know that they had to use  a  MSN program to use this service, and would be confused to get a message saying that it is sending a message, when really it isn’t. The Google Talk service, on the other hand, allows users to  ask a question without  signing up beforehand with an IM service provider. One of the librarians that uses Google talk has a little white text balloon above the words Google Talk and her user name that says, “Chat with  (name) Available”. I clicked on the  active  “Chat with …” link and a small chat box opened up, and  a message said , “Waiting for the librarian…”. This was a very simple chat box, with 2 spaces, one for the chat text, and one for the user to put in comments. I think that a first time user would use this service, and I would use it too, if the subject librarian I wanted to ask a question to used this service also.

The top recommendation I have for UBC Library to improve its IM service is to develop a separate webpage that users would link to from the “By Instant Messaging” on the Ask a Librarian page. On this page, UBC could list the hours when users might expect this service to be available, add an explanation of IM, add frequently asked questions, and add more service providers. As two librarians are using MSN and Google talk, maybe other librarians could also be encouraged to do so.

Another useful service for UBC library to add to to its website (or a new IM page), is a place  where a user could ask a general question. It would be best if this was offered by a free service like a Meebo widget, so that users can enter a question right into the webpage. As almost all of the librarians on the subject librarians page use the MSN Messenger service, I think it would be quite difficult for someone to use this service who had never used IM before. The Meebo widget, like Google Talk, would allow users to enter a question directly into a text box from the webpage, without having to go to the MSN Messenger page to sign up. I looked at the subject librarian’s page many times, but rarely found anyone online, perhaps because it is so near the end of the university term. I would probably use this service in the future if it was clearer when the service is available, and I could do so through Google talk or Meebo.