[Web4lib] IM reference time and trouble?

[Jocelyn Shaw]

Hi,

We have been using Trillian to do chat reference for about 4 years now.  It
is available during regular business hours and is staffed by the regular
reference staff.  We also offer email reference.  It has not been a big
deal.  We get one or two questions a day, and they are mainly ready
reference type questions.  Actually, sometimes it is easier to help people
with a chat rather than phone conversation because we can send them web
links right through the chat rather than trying to spell out a web address
over the phone.

We also can use the chat to converse with other parts of the library--the
main circ desk, children's circ desk, genealogy, and the administrative
assistant all have IM accounts, so if anyone needs to, say have someone call
the police without everyone in the building hearing about it, we can IM
another desk (we are on three floors).

We are a public library in a city of about 45,000.

Jocelyn


-- 
Jocelyn Shaw
Librarian
Hackley Public Library
316 W Webster
Muskegon MI 49440

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@ the Hackley Public Library