IM Reference

This week I had an opportunity to further explore instant messaging by engaging in several IM reference transactions at the VBPL website. Overall my experiences were okay. On my first attempt to use Instant Messaging, there seemed to be a bit of a lag between the asking of my question and the response from the library. But, they did answer my question, (“Which VB Public Libraries are open Sundays?”), so all in all, not bad. A day or so later, I sent another IM. Again, I chose what I thought was a fairly straightforward question to ask, (“Do any of the VB Public Libraries offer Wi-Fi”). However, this time things did not run as smoothly. After submitting my question I waited nearly five minutes for any sort of response or acknowledgement. Several times I was tempted to log off, but because this was one of the Discovery Exercises, I continued to wait. Eventually, I did receive an answer, but it definitely was not the quick turnaround I had been hoping for. A few days later, when I discovered a colleague was scheduled to do IM Reference, I initiated contact. This was probably my most successful transaction out of the three. The response time was much quicker, with virtually no lag time at all between question & answer! But then again, it was a somewhat “staged” conversation, so of course things ran smoothly. So, do I think Instant Messaging is a good fit for libraries? The verdict is still out on that one.