Although the concept of this application isn't rocket science, how its done is a little more complicated. TextALibrarian.com allows students to use the ever popular way of communicating via text messaging to ask reference questions using the current phone capabilities. It connects text messaging with email or some IM systems. Using cell phone based text messaging it is easy for the librarian to learn as well as a student. Downsides would be cost ( yearly basic subscription about $1200 with a a limit on outbound messages of 1000 /month) and I am not sure how a user would access this type of messaging via computer, indicating an additional need for IM reference. How it works : http://www.textalibrarian.com/how.php There seems to be reported mixed success with 24/7 online reference via IM, so it will be interesting to see if texting reference questions will become popular.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
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This is a great service.It remains to be seen how popular it will actually turn out to be, especially with that kind of subscription fee.
ReplyDeleteThe only downside I foresee is the cost (small, I know) to the patron for texting. But I don't doubt for a second that this would be a popular option to offer!
ReplyDeleteOne of my classmates last semester worked for ChaCha which is a very similar service. I wonder with the increasing popularity and abilities of smart phones if text reference will really catch on? With access to the internet and search engines I wonder if users would prefer to just "google it", rather than relying on the search abilities of a librarian. Either way seems like a pretty neat service to offer!
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