Today is my birthday and I have already "Chatted" with quite a few of my friends from all over the world this morning. I was able to get on Facebook and chat with my friends all morning; each one wishing me a great birthday and an even bettter Friday. I even had friends from Guam and the Virgin Islands IM me on my way to work to tell me to have a wonderful day. (The following video/podcast is from my husband who thinks that Def Leppard is the greatest band on the planet and it is only way he can express Happy Birthday to me...My name is NOT Sharon though.)
Chat and IM have been around for a long time. I first used them when you still had to be part of AOL to use them. I remember having to go to a chat room, then find who wanted to talk with and begin to chat. With Instant Messages, you and your friend could have a more private chat. I remember at the time thinking how wonderful it was to be able to "talk" to my friends at any hour without having to hear the phone ring.
Now chatting and IM'ing has moved from the computer to the smart phones. I can now have a chat on my phone with out talking and in real time. This means that there are definite pros and definite cons to this technology. We do not at this time have this feature on our website at the library but to be honest, I have been at work and have had friends IM me on my phone with reference questions to help them at work. And the questions always start off as very work related (i.e. What is the form that I would need to use for Power of Attorney? Is there a grace period for a payment for this...? ), but then I get the really reference questions such as: How many home runs did the Astros hit in the 2007-2008 season? If someone is married in one state to one person, then crosses the state line and marries someone else, does that make them a bigamist? I do believe that this is a great way to communticate with patrons who may not want to come in and ask the questions that they really need answers for. But then the cons, do we as librarians answer ALL questions that come through? Do we have to answer questions that make us believe that the person on the other end wishes to cause harm to themselves or others?
You know, just some questions to ponder while we answer the public's reference questions. I can honestly say that this portion of the course was one of the most fun to "play" with.
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