[Web4lib] Any feedback on "Text a Librarian" ?

[Steven E. Patamia, Ph.D.]

Maybe this is not a bad idea.

     Rather than ask the forbidden question, I would like to suggest reasons
why this is distinct from a phone call in a positive way.
    (1) A text message from a mobile device is necessarily short.

    (2) Forcing composition of a message -- even in semi-sentence form with
abbreviations -- compels and supports some organizing of the question into
succinct and coherent form. -- for many this will be an improvement over
what the phone inquiry would be.

    (3)  It is better to stare briefly at a written question -- even a short
one -- to contemplate it, than to have to wonder if you properly heard and
understood what was just said (owing to issues of coherency, accent,
language affiliation, or a bad connection).

    (4) Lastly, for the sender, there are fewer concerns like -- being in a
place you cannot talk, being in a noisy place, waiting to get past a phone
tree, worry over whether there will be someone there to answer quickly, etc.
     So maybe this is not so bad.  Just be sure you still are available by
phone for situations that benefit from a brief back and forth conversation.
 Unfortunately, a lot of text messages are subject to inadquacies that will
turn into a textual back and forth anyway, but nothing is perfect!

On Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 3:46 PM, KLINGLER, THOMAS <tk at kent.edu> wrote:

> Folks,
>
> Anyone use this service with success?    --or, not?
>
> http://www.textalibrarian.com/
>
> It's a gateway between text messaging and instant messaging with a web page
> in between for the librarian.  It allows the end-user to send a text message
> to the library; the librarian can deal with it on a web page, and their
> response goes back to the handheld from whence the text originated.
>
> (Don't ask the question that, if it's a synchronous activity that involves
> a phone,  why doesn't the person just CALL the library?!  If you ask that
> question, you are too logical and obviously don't have teenagers or
> 20-something kids, and you must be ready for retirement!  ;-)
>
> Reference folks here want to give it a try.  The company looks to have just
> a small number of customers so far.  (I hear that they had thick carpet and
> a big booth at ALA.)
>
> My main concern is whether folks will bother to use it, since the end-user
> apparently will need to know TWO pieces of data: the address and the special
> keyword that they have to send in their text.   (To use the talking part of
> the phone, they only need to know ONE piece of data, that old-fashioned
> phone-number thing.)
>
> At $ 1,200 per year, it seems worth a one-year try...
>
> I'd appreciate any feedback.   Alternate suggestions and/or competitors,
> too.
>
> (I should mention that we're using Meebome on our site with good success
> and fairly heavy traffic.  http://www.library.kent.edu/page/13983  )
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Tom Klingler
> Assistant Dean
> University Libraries
> Library Room 383
> Kent State University
> Kent, Ohio 44242-0001
> 330-672-1646
>
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>
>


-- 
Steven E. Patamia, Ph.D., J.D.
Personal Cell: (352) 219-6592