IM, Therefore I Chat
Discourse is at the center of scholarship, and the mission of the Libraries of The Claremont Colleges is to facilitate that discourse. As we all recognize, in today's world scholarly discussion is often virtual, mediated by technology. Now, along with email, listservs, and blogs, Instant Messaging (IM) has found its way into the life of the academy. Librarians have been quick to adopt each of these forms of electronic communication, as they have emerged?for their own professional communications and as a means of expanding library services beyond the real space of the library buildings.
The Libraries first offered reference chat in 2002, participating in the nationwide 24/7 cooperative reference service. Though that service offered round-the-clock access to reference librarians, only 104 Claremont users took advantage of the service during 2004 - 2005.
Convinced of the importance of providing more effective reference and research assistance “wherever, whenever, however,” the Libraries' re-examined various chat options and decided to move to a strictly in-house chat model, in which Claremont Colleges librarians focus on Claremont Colleges library users. Supported by GAIM, a multi-protocol instant messaging client software, librarianchat became available to users of AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger in September of 2005.
First semester figures are exciting: 48 chat sessions in September, growing to 122 in October, holding steady with 116 in November, and declining to 84 in December with the holidays and break. The best part? Librarianchat is available to students, faculty, and staff, wherever they are connected to the Internet. For example, a recent chat session provided a Washington Program student with assistance in locating a much needed volume … in the George Washington University library collection.
Librarianchat is currently available Monday-Thursday from 10-10, Friday from 10-5, Saturday from 1-5, and Sundays from 1-10. For more information on the Libraries' ASK US services, and IM in particular, look for the red ASK US on the Libraries website.
Marsha Shnirring
Reference Librarian