[OPLINLIST] Public IM Chat

[Nicholas Slone]

Mr. Wale,

If you're interested in checking out what I've done with the reference 
desk and meebo, our website is:

http://pikecountylibrary.org/

http://www.meebo.com

Although I've seen some discussion about the possibility of it bogging 
down the web server, since it's web based, I love the fact that it's 
pretty easy to implement....since it's web based. Theoretically, then, 
you could log in and do chat reference from anywhere, as well.  All you 
really have to do is create a free account for every department.  Then 
create a "meebo me" widget for each account.  Then, copy and paste the 
code for each widget in the department's page on the website.  We only 
have one for reference, but I've embedded it on the front page and the 
reference page. 

The other part of our implementation is that we use firefox at the 
reference desk, and we have an extension installed for meebo.  That way, 
every time you start up the browser, you are logged into meebo and ready 
to take reference questions.

While it doesn't have the ability to "push" pages the way that KnowItNow 
does, in my opinion, the "pushing" feature has always been slow and not 
very helpful.  It's just as easy and less bandwidth intensive to post a 
link in an IM box, allowing the patron to have more control over how to 
open the links themselves. 

It's only been up for a little over a year, and it's basically taken 
that long for people to really start noticing it.  Also, meebo gives you 
the ability to attach other IM accounts to it.   So, I've also created a 
screen name for the most popular IM services and attached them.  That 
way, if a patron uses AIM or Yahoo! exclusively, we can distribute our 
screen name and they can add us to their buddy list.  I like the idea of 
us going to where they are, rather than forcing them to come to us and 
do it our way. 

Hope all that helps!

-- 
Sincerely,
Nicholas Slone
Adult Services Librarian
Garnet A. Wilson Public Library of Pike County