Text a Librarian

I ♥ texting; Text a Librarian is a great new service that will appeal to fellow texters everywhere.  People text twice as much as they talk, so this service really makes sense for libraries.

Curtis Marsh, director of the University of Kansas’s KU Info said, “We need to communicate with students the way they communicate with each other. It is about time we began offering our service through text messaging”  (Library Journal, 2008, p. 22).  This is a smart service for school libraries to offer to its patrons, as it probably appeals to students who text frequently.  In turn, this makes the library appear hip and up to date, and could eliminate stereotypes of libraries being old dusty buildings with stuffy librarians.

Some of you are probably wondering how this works, right?  First, the library orders the Text a Librarian service (packages start at $99/month) and chooses a Microboard.  A Microboard is the web-based area where the text questions pop up and answers are typed.  Patrons can then text questions to your Microboard with their cell phones.  Reference Librarians can then type the answer back to you, which you receive as a text message.  omg way 2 cool :]

Have a question? Text us!

1. Compose new SMS/Text Message to 66746
2. Start your message with our keyword ASKTAL
   i.e. asktal your message here
3. Send

You will receive an auto-response, one of the customizable features offered in the Text a Librarian service.

What are the advantages of using this service? http://www.textalibrarian.com shares some with us:

1. It is easy to implement, simple to use and IT-friendly.

2. Patron privacy is safe. Your data is secure.

3. Mosio’s Text a Librarian is not a hack.

4. Efficient for one librarian working alone or many working together.

5. Competitively-priced. Feature-rich. Always improving.

6. Run reports, gather stats and analyze usage.

7. We are technology compatible, perfect for Library 2.0.

Do you think academic AND public libraries should offer this service?  Why or why not?
Do you see any disadvantages to a library purchasing this service?

Bibliography:

www.textalibrarian.com

Text a Librarian from Mosio. (November 1 2008). Library Journal (1976). 133(18), 22.