Thing 11 - IM

I have been instant messaging for a long time. I use my yahoo email account and instant message from there. I also use the instant message feature or chat feature on Facebook. I like that instead of waiting for an email to come thorough or a post I can have a conversation as if I was on the phone. Text messaging can even be a little difficult because you are always waiting to open the next text and it is hard to go back and look at what is said. I like that with a chat you can constantly have conversation and have a record of everything that was said on your part and theirs. This is a great tool for our libraries because it allows us to communicate with our patrons and we could even send the info to website people for new information for a FAQ's page. If someone needed to know the answer chance are that others so too! I have used a chat feature with the North Richland Hills Public Library when I was in library school. I actually conducted an interview that way! It was really neat to have everything I needed right in the chat window.... I love that they have a "live chat with a librarian" on their webpage. It makes their services so easy to access.