OK, I have IM'd a lot over the years, mostly with AOL Instant Messager (AIM). My brother and sister have a lot of friends all over the country, so I know it is a valuable tool for someone like them. Most of my friends live in Illinois or are at least a phone call away. I do have a very dear friend who lives in Sweden, but her schedule (and growing family) doesn't really make IMing as convenient as one would think (not to mention the fact that we are in very different time zones).
I am one of those people who could have a three-hour phone conversation and not really realize it. I prefer it that way. If I want to write something to a friend, I'll get them a greeting card. If I'm in the mood to communicate via the Web, I'll e-mail them and wait for a response. The one exception was when my sister was in vet school in the Caribbean. It cost too much to talk to her and we could have quick (and sometimes mindless) conversations just to keep in touch. Even though my sister lives less than an hour from me now, we still check in via IM, but it is mostly to send each other wacky YouTube video links that only we would enjoy.
All this being said, I am intrigued by the idea of virtual reference and using IMs to engage with patrons online. I think it may take off, yet I still think most patrons like the face-to-face contact with the librarian...I know I do.
A special "Heigh-Ho" from Kermit the Blog...oops...Kermit the Frog!
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2 comments:
Very cool Blog Mandy. I had IM'd in the past but this 10 things journey has me rediscovering things--it's been a lot of fun. Really dig how you used RSS (look at me using all this fancy pants termanology-I'm so smart :))
Thanks for the comments, Mandy. Yeah, I just cut and pasted my interests from Myspace. Heh, so I guess that means I totally cheated. ;)
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