Presented by Meredith McCarthy and Tom Peters Missouri Library Association Conference Friday,...

Presented by Meredith McCarthy and Tom PetersMissouri Library Association ConferenceFriday, October 7th 2011

My Info Quest: A Collaborative SMS-based Text Reference Service

www.tapinformation.com/MLAIQ.htm

My Info Quest (My IQ or IQ for short) http://www.myinfoquest.info/ A collaborative, nationwide effort

involving over 2-dozen libraries

Jefferson County Library here in Missouri.

Started as pilot project in 2010 2011 cost was $399 per library plus at

least 2 hours per week staffing the virtual ref desk

Basic Background

Face-to-face library service interactions probably have entered an era of steady decline.

Non-face-to-face service interactions in any service sector can be efficient for users, but also frustrating and incomplete. Interminable phone trees and wait-time Difficulty explaining your need and finding

the person or unit most likely to help

How to provide a high quality, useful, responsive, collaborative, multi-state, SMS-based reference service for mobile phone users?

Difficult (and perhaps expensive) to negotiate the information need via a reference interview

Many cell phone data plans charge for each SMS message.

“Textese” may be difficult to understand

Little or no knowledge of the context in which the question is being asked

No non-verbal communication

No demographic information

No phone number

No context of the info need

The adoption and diffusion of the mobile phone is arguably the fastest and greatest in human history

It puts the service right at the point of need in terms of place and time

It seems to appeal to the teen demographic

Powered by Textalibrarian from Mosio Participating member libraries share

one reference “desk” and thus field all questions

The service provider needs an Internet connection and browser software

The user needs a cell phone and a service plan that enables SMS-based messages.

When will power be restored to zip 99999?

Context: Thunderstorms and tornados had resulted in a major power outage in that area.

I need a recipe for a pie crust.

Context: The day before Thanksgiving Where is the Santa Monica Public Library?

Context: Someone driving or riding to the library Where’s the nearest locksmith in zip 99999?

Context: User had locked himself out of his house.

Traveling Cooking While interacting with or experiencing

some sort of information object or entertainment experience

Attending a class

How do we know they’re not taking a test?

Any net-connected device (desktop, laptop, netbook, tablet, smartphone, etc.) capable of running a modern browser should be able to function as an Info Quest service device.

Wifi and cell phone connectivity seem to be sufficient. Tom once provided service while watching

his older son play baseball.

Lots of questions asking for opinions or advice, not just facts

Quite a few about human sexuality and relationships

Is this a serious question?Discerning the nuances of the question

Example: “SACLIB When is the next Bruins home game?” (hypothetically posted on 9/15/11)

Boston Bruins hockey, UCLA Bruins football, or something else?

Keeping the response short (160 characters)

Getting the tone “right”

Professional and authoritative, yet relaxed and casual

Responding within 10 minutes on average Documenting your answer with a

supporting URL (often by using a URL-shortener)

Practice, practice, practice Read about best practices in the LIS

literature, blog posts, tweets, etc. Put yourself in the situation of the user. Even though we “know nothing,” try to

imagine the context within which the question is being asked.

If you guess wrong, the user will correct you.

“R U really a librarian?” How to establish pro cred in non-F2F situations without appearing stuffy

Much local info (services, weather, traffic, etc.) now accessible globally

Advantages of collaborative service provision: Cost-efficient

Able to offer more hours of service

24/7 is the goal

Tom PetersMilner LibraryIllinois State UniversityNormal, IL 816.616.6746tpeters@ilstu.edu Twitter: TAPintoITFB: Thomas A. Peters

Meredith McCarthy Jefferson County Library Arnold, MO 636-296-5171 mmccarthy@jeffcolib.org www.jeffersoncountylibrary.org