Instant Messaging in the Library

One of the benefits of IM reference is the fact that it creates a means of social interaction and community between librarys and potential customers out in the online places where our customers are working and playing.

Many of these people are teens and IM is a good way to engage them but the September 2004 Pew Internet/American Life report, How Americans Use IM [pdf], reports that 53 million adults were using IM. At the time, 24% of them were doing more IM than email. No doubt this has grown.

The real magic happens when library users add the library’s screen name to their buddy list. Then the library is a presence in their lives whenever they’re online and have their IM program running. Let me repeat that. Through IM, you can be available to your users, among their trusted peers, when they’re operating online.

Here are some good talking points for people who want to bring up the idea of doing IM.

Libraries using IM

The Millenial Generation

Joyce Johnson just told me about this program, Mentors Good for Young Workers, that she heard on NPR this morning. The expectations of this age group fit in with the social aspects of web 2.0 and why its important for libraries to be able to reach out to this group. Click the link to go listen to the story from NPR’s website.

Morning Edition, June 6, 2007 · The “Millennial” Generation, 18- to 25-year-old, often has radically different needs and expectations than older workers. They’re used to things happening quickly and being guided along the way. Their parents took care of them very differently so they’re used to being mentored. Now they’re coming into the workplace and are expecting the same kind of interaction.

What does this mean for us in the library system? This generation comes into the library more technically knowledgeable than any other generation has been. Computers, the Internet, cell phones, and the social colllaboration we’re learning about has already been a big part of their lives. Although reaching out to them via Instant Messaging may seem odd to a lot of us, chances are it wouldn’t seem that way to them at all.

The #1 benefit of IM in libraries is it puts the library where traditionally hard-to-reach users already are, in a medium they’re comfortable with, and in a way that’s 100% free for the library. [Sara Houghton, The Librarian in Black, http://librarianinblack.typepad.com/librarianinblack ]

Here’s a nice article, Generation X and The Millennials: What You Need to Know About Mentoring the New Generations, about Generation X and the Millenial Generation.