Results from IM services implemented at a number of colleges and universities have been encouraging, and many libraries have shown significant increases in usage when IM was added. The University of Illinois at Urbana and Gettysburg College, for instance, experienced a significant jump in overall VR traffic, with IM far outpacing vendor-based chat.17 Similarly, when Duke University and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill introduced IM, they found that IM use exceeded chat use. An important finding was that taken together, chat and IM significantly increased their overall VR traffic.18
Ward and Kern concluded that it was worthwhile to continue running simultaneous chat and IM services at the University of Illinois at Urbana, as each channel seemed to attract different types of users.19 The additional IM service did cause some technostress, and privacy was a concern, as IM software stores personal information automatically. The challenge is to find a way to discard the personally identifying information while keeping the transaction text.
SUNY-Morrisville has been a pioneer and has offered IM as a way to contact librarians since 1998. Bill Drew, the librarian responsible for the service, explained he uses AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) because surveys of students and staff revealed
most were familiar with AIM. It is also easy to download and install. It is available at no cost to the library or the patron. Any staff member can cover the service by logging in under the “morrisvillelib” screen name. It is also easy to implement by inserting a link into each webpage.
Drew went on to say the library would continue the service because the students like it.20
With IM, real-time online relationships are formed, notes Sarah Houghton. She observes that:
Much of the literature about the evolution of the Web is showing that what makes the Web “go” isn’t the technology, it’s the relationships that the technology makes possible. Instant messaging is a wonderful way for libraries to build sustained relationships with their users, and to show that the library is not only online, but interactive online–a key in the world of today’s online communities.21
While I agree that improvements can and should be made to the technical aspects of providing a virtual reference service (and I’m really looking forward to those improvements and innovations), it continues to concern me that much of our blame for a perceived low use of these services focuses primarily on the software. How can we definitively state that because an “…abundant evidence that millions of teenagers and young adults are using commercial chat and instant messaging (IM) services regularly, but that isn’t translating to the library realm”? I don’t understand that logic. It’s like saying billions of humans use phones, but it just isn’t translating to the library realm because our phones aren’t ringing off the hooks. What is our benchmark for sufficient usage? And how are you making the service know to your users?
Here at AskColorado we struggle to keep up with demand. We do very little marketing. Use is generated from link placement at participating library websites, library catalogs and databases, and word of mouth. Our primary users (more that 60%) are the same demographic cited as being avid IM users in the article; teenagers.
My main concern is that libraries first need to set benchmarks for sufficient use of any reference service (in-person, phone, e-mail, IM, VR) then assess usage. If you’re not happy with usage you need to look at how you are making your service available. Can users find the VR service on your website? No? Then you need to make it more visible (‘Goal of Convienence’.) Try this experiment: Add Live Help links throughout your library’s website and in your library catalog. Assess usage of the service. If your numbers still do not meet your goals then perhaps you need to assess whether it is the technology preventing usage of your service.
I know it’s not as simple as I’ve explained above. My main point is to caution librarians not to discount a service based on technology alone, without looking at other factors that may impact usage of that service.
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