Drexel Info 740-900 - Digital Reference Services blog .... or everything you wanted to know about anything but were afraid to ask
Texting
Posted 11-03-2009 at 01:20 PM by mollylewis
Well, now I have to stop bitching about how none of my fellow employees can carry on a decent conversation - I've become one of those people in the breakroom busily tapping away. My friends are thrilled that I now respond to their texts. I'm actually talking (so to speak) more with friends from other stores than I have in months, because we can text each other throughout the day.
Even though we're not allowed to use our phones at work, I've been granted a wee bit of clemancy on this because I'm checking my phone to see if my questions (all, oh, eighteen million of them) were answered, then I'm sharing the answers with the staff. You can actually thank them, because some of the questions (re: Buffalo Soldiers, poisonous daddylonglegs, etc) were from questions randomly thrown out in the breakroom, or in our grocery meeting.
I'll be honest and say that I think the reason I liked the text reference is because I knew going in that the nature of the service would tend to be simple reference questions. That made it less scary. Also, because of the time delay as the librarian you weren't "on the spot" as much. As a patron, I knew there would be a delay, but still hoped secretly that I'd get a response right away (especially when trying to settle an arguement at a party over whether daddylonglegs were poisonous).
I thought Text a Librarian was very easy to use, and so was the instruction manual. It was quite easy, and coming from me that's saying something. I had quite a few problems with QuestionPoint, which really made me just feel stupid for not getting the hang of it better. But this was cake.
Even though we're not allowed to use our phones at work, I've been granted a wee bit of clemancy on this because I'm checking my phone to see if my questions (all, oh, eighteen million of them) were answered, then I'm sharing the answers with the staff. You can actually thank them, because some of the questions (re: Buffalo Soldiers, poisonous daddylonglegs, etc) were from questions randomly thrown out in the breakroom, or in our grocery meeting.
I'll be honest and say that I think the reason I liked the text reference is because I knew going in that the nature of the service would tend to be simple reference questions. That made it less scary. Also, because of the time delay as the librarian you weren't "on the spot" as much. As a patron, I knew there would be a delay, but still hoped secretly that I'd get a response right away (especially when trying to settle an arguement at a party over whether daddylonglegs were poisonous).
I thought Text a Librarian was very easy to use, and so was the instruction manual. It was quite easy, and coming from me that's saying something. I had quite a few problems with QuestionPoint, which really made me just feel stupid for not getting the hang of it better. But this was cake.
Total Comments 3
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Now you're textin'Let's see if you keep texting!
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Posted 11-03-2009 at 10:01 PM by Millerlibrarian
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I also felt like the nature of text reference was less daunting! The answers were briefer but there wasn't the RIGHT NOW pressure of chatting online. The questions themselves were also easier to grasp/handle. Sometimes I will see a question in the QRC that I just stare at for a while because the patron has so many demands or wants to know about something very technical. I doubt anyone is going to text in and ask for wiring schematics for a '94 Dodge Neon!
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Posted 11-03-2009 at 11:00 PM by jeduffett
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Many services state how long one would have to wait for a text. In Portland Oregon, they are offering text a librarian and indicate that a patron may wait up to 10 minutes. In our situation, we don't have librarians "on the texting desk" but in a library, they would have on call librarians.
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Posted 11-04-2009 at 07:10 PM by eabels
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Recent Blog Entries by mollylewis
- Ok, just answered the coolest question EVER (11-14-2009)
- need opinions on a site (11-09-2009)
- Texting (11-03-2009)
- A quick note about texting (10-30-2009)
- Week 5 (10-25-2009)






