Me Meebo!

I was looking foward to this week because of our assignment on Instant Messenging, which I love! I got hooked onto IM in college and have become pretty dependent on it to communicate with friends and family since i can't hear over the phone due to my hearing impairment. Thank you to Web 2.0 for introducing me to Meebo! I actually have IM accounts on all 4 - Yahoo, MSN, AOL and Gmail... Meebo makes it much much easier by consolidating all 4.



While in library school, I had the opportunity to observe a reference librarian conducting reference services through IM. I think that libraries should be able to offer both live IM reference through Meebo, as well as a IM service offered by a network of librarians such as QuestionPoint. The QP is great because it is accessible 24/7, but the chances of getting an actual Sno-Isle Librarian is slim. Using a service, such as Meebo, in libraries would allow patrons to get in touch with an actual Sno-Isle Librarian. Connecting with a Sno-Isle Librarian, rather than one from another state, allows for better service to the patron. A Sno-Isle Librarian has a more in-depth knowledge of their collection, while a non Sno-Isle Librarian only knows our collection by looking at our web catalog.
An IM service through Meebo would probably be more practical for college libraries than public libraries. The libraries I have talked to in CA (Marin County and San Leandro)that use AOL/Meebo for live reference say they probably average about 1 or 2 questions per session (few hours after school), which is not much at all. But in my opinion, it would be worth trying out.
Update on UW softball - They didn't have the greatest weekend while they were in Fullerton for the annual Judi Garman tournament. They dropped a few spots to #23/#25. UW starts their Pac-10 season tomorrow! Go Huskies!