Virtual Reference:

I realize I had informed you that I had set up a Meebo account but hadn’t made an official post on it yet. As you know, Rasmussen College Library will hopefully be implementing a chat reference service for the students.

The first decision that needed to be made was which software would be used. In order to reach as many students as possible, an aggregator is necessary. I was familiar with Trillian and while I did find librarians online who used this service, Meebo was the more popular choice with libraries. It works as an aggregator like Trillian or GAIM but doesn’t require a software download. Plus, the widget allows people who don’t have a MSN, AIM, Yahoo…etc. account to still participate in the discussion.

Meebo

Our account is RasColLib and I’ve already affiliated AIM, Yahoo, Gtalk and MSN accounts to the Meebo account. (I'll let Emily distribute the password.) Therefore, if a student prefers to IM the librarian via their chat software instead of the Meebo widget on the library page, they can.

Features:

Widgets: Chat windows connecting to RasColLib can be embedded in different parts of the Rasmussen College website.

Logs: Meebo does keep logs but only if the Meebo user is chatting with someone who has a username. Anonymous communication, which is chiefly what comes through a public Meebo widget, is not logged. If records about these communications are to be kept, a separate system will need to be set up.

Customizable Away Messages: If you’re logged in but have to step away for a bit, students can see when you’ll be back. Plus, they can still leave questions in the window to be answered later.

File Transfers: A student can send files via Meebo but for security reasons, you still may want them to e-mail any document to you.

Text, Video & Audio Chats: These are other parts of Meebo that is accessible as long as you’re not chatting with an anonymous user. MeeboRooms, however, do allow anonymous chatters to join a conversation. With Rooms, there is the risk that non-RCL using participants will join it.

There is the beginning. The next step will be testing it out on real students and professors to discover what trends they may have that will help shape the future of virtual reference at Rasmussen.

If you'd like to read more about where to go from here, Amanda Etches-Johnson at blogwithoutalibrary.net has a few helpful resources about what should be considered when developing an IM chat service.

Amanda's presentation on incorporating IM PDF
IM Road MapPDF

And if you feel inclined, drop me a line to chat or ask questions:

~Krista