Gina

Today, when I visited the class chat room that was set up on Meebo, Rebecca was in there, and I was able to ask some one-on-one questions, which was great.  I hadn’t been able to access the Meebo chat box on the class blog, so Rebecca directed me to her website, where she has another chat box set up.  That worked great!  I’d love to have a chat box like that set up on our library blog, but I don’t think it’s feasible, since we don’t have a reference librarian, or anyone else, who is on the internet a lot at the library.

What I like about chat is the quick back and forth, as opposed to e-mail where if your question is not fully answered the first time, you have to wait for someone to get back to you once again.  The downside to reference services, as pointed out by some of my classmates, is that there is a certain expectation that goes along with the “instant” connotation of “instant messaging.”  Also, in order to justify the staffing needed for IM services, there has to be shown to be a need for it.  But how can a need be shown if the service is just starting up?  I know, it’s a conundrum.