IMing

I have IMed before. I've used the Communicator at work, although I do not think it works any quicker than email. I've also used it when on Facebook.

I'm not a big fan of it on Facebook because sometimes I just want to make my little statement for the day and get off. If someone IMs me, though, I feel obligated to chat, or I ignore them and use the excuse that something was wrong with my computer and it wouldn't go through.

For work, with Communicator, if I'm here I'm here and I don't see much of a difference whether someone contacts me via phone, email, or IMing. It all depends where I am at the time on whether I can actually respond "instantly." When you're out on the desk, nothing is guaranteed instant - you have the phone and patrons to contend with.

Using IMing to aid our patrons could be useful IF (key point here) we had one or two librarians whose duty, at least for the time period allotted, it was to sit at a computer (with no interruptions allowed by phones or staff) and just answer questions recieved from IMs. That's the only way to guarantee the kind of service our patrons would expect from something with "instant" in the name.