Instant Messaging

I've been using instant messaging (AOL) for about three years now. It's a lot more immediate than email and for me it has been a quicker method of communication as well. I haven't used it for work that much, although I've got a few Winnefox people on my buddy list and should add more because it's nice to know when someone is at their desk if I have a question. However, as much as I like being able to see when people are available, I also don't know that I always want to appear available to others.

It would be great if you could be logged in to more than one account at a given time - I'd like to have separate work and home identities, and sometimes it'd be convenient to be logged in to both.

I've used the Meebo widget on the Menasha library website, and it's something I'd eventually like to have on Ripon's website. I've used it to inquire about reserving a meeting room and also to ask staff to set aside a book for one of our patrons. Neither of these requests was urgent, so I didn't want to interrupt staff if they were with a patron in person or on the phone and IM let them respond to me when they had a free minute.

I think IM has potential for patrons who don't need an immediate response and who are going to be sitting at their computers for a while anyway. It's probably also something that will be more appealing to the younger generations.