Thing 7. Web 2.0 Communication Tools

Okay, I am skipping around on the 23 things. I didn't feel like taking pictures today and posting them in Flickr, so I went ahead to communication tools. Before I started working here, I was not interested in IM. I had email and that was fine. But in our library system, the other librarians had IM and it was a great way to communicate quickly when I had questions to ask the other librarians who had been with the system longer than I had. So, I got an account and use it often. It's great because you can see who from your buddy list is online and then you know that you are likely to get a response soon. With email, you don't know how often the other party is checking and when they will get back to you. We also have just started using IM for virtual reference. This is my second week using meebo for VR with students. We went with a quiet start so that we can get wrinkles ironed out and are not overwhelmed with questions. The students are finding it on their own, though. I enjoy doing virtual reference with IM. It is a different dynamic than email - you have to respond quickly to the student so that you don't lose him/her and type short messages.