[Web4lib] SMS (text messaging) in libraries or education?

[Chris Strauber]

Again, not sure on the scalability angle, but if you've set up your
phone with Google Calendar you can have an SMS message sent as a
reminder right from there (it's in the drop-down where "Email a
reminder" appears) and save yourself the filter creation process.

Chris Strauber
Tisch Library
Tufts University

On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 12:42 PM, Robert Malesko <maleskonk at yahoo.com> wrote:
> I've been sending myself text message for my own library items, using my gmail account and google calendar.
> The approach might scale up, though I'm not quite sure how to do that. This is a decent start, though.
>
> To do this you need a gmail account and a cell phone. Basically you set a calendar reminder to email you
> and have a filter set to forward these emails to your cell phone. Here's the step by step:
>
> 1. Enter the due date into google calendar. Use a unique word or string in the subject, one that
> won't appear in the subject line of any other message. (important for the filter step.) For example,
>  "SFPL Library Book Due" will work, unless you get a lot of messages with that subject. Use the same string for every due date reminder.
>
> 2. In the calendar event option, select "email reminder." You can set it to email from 1 day to 4 weeks ahead of time.
>
> At this point, you'll have an email reminder sent to remind of of the event.
>
> 3. Create a filter in your gmail account. (The link to do this is up on the top, to the right of the "search the web" button.
> 4. Use the unique string in your title in the subject line. Click "next step."
> 5. Tick the "forward it to:" box. You can email text messages to your cell phone.
> The format depends on your carrier. Here's a list I found from allthingsmarked.com:
>
> Verizon:             10digitphonenumber at vtext.com
>
> AT&T: 10digitphonenumber at txt.att.net
>
> Sprint:                   10digitphonenumber at messaging.sprintpcs.com
>
> T-Mobile:               10digitphonenumber at tmomail.net
>
> Nextel:                   10digitphonenumber at messaging.nextel.com
>
> Cingular:               10digitphonenumber at cingularme.com
>
> Virgin Mobile:     10digitphonenumber at vmobl.com
>
> Alltel:                   10digitphonenumber at message.alltel.com
>
> CellularOne:         10digitphonenumber at mobile.celloneusa.com
>
> Omnipoint:             10digitphonenumber at omnipointpcs.com
>
> Qwest:                     10digitphonenumber at qwestmp.com6. Select create a filter.
>
> That's it. Next time that the google calendar emails you a reminder, your cell phone
> will be forwarded a copy of the calendar reminder.
>
> If you want to test it, try entering a test entry in the calendar, set the event to start in
> a few minutes, and set an "email reminder" to go out in that many minutes minus one.
>
> You can do this to both test the filter when setting it up, and to test the forwarding feature
> once you create the filter.
>
> You can also just test emailing your cell phone as if you were sending any other email. Finally, note
> that text messages are limited to 160 characters in length, and this includes the subject line.
>
> If anybody figures out how to scale this up to multiple, different recipients, please let me know!
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2008 10:23:00 -0500
> From: "Alison Cody" <alisonkc at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Web4lib] SMS (text messaging) in libraries or education?
> To: web4lib at webjunction.org
> Message-ID:
>        <55b4367d0812150723n73276a54ybb7a5ad493e7ab01 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> This is a little different than what you asked, but this month we started
> offering reference via text message at my library. (We're using AIM's
> mobile
> service, so the texts arrive at the ref desk as IMs.) We've gotten a
> handful
> of questions so far, and from what I understand most have been "how can I
> renew this item?"
>
> More here: http://www.loyola.edu/library/REF/index.htm
>
> Personally, I would love to get text messages when my holds are in or my
> books are due.
>
> Alison Cody
> Public Relations/Instruction Librarian
> Loyola/Notre Dame Library
> Baltimore, MD
>
> On Thu, Dec 11, 2008 at 8:05 PM, HUNT_STEVE <HUNT_STEVE at smc.edu> wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> Does anyone use SMS (text messaging) to communicate with users? It seems
>> this would be a good way to reach today's students. Overdue notices,
>> books on hold, library class notices...
>> Steve Hunt
>> Systems Librarian
>> Santa Monica College Library
>> Santa Monica, Calif.
>
>
>
>
>
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