Meebo for chat reference services and letting go of the old

[Krista B]

Our system's technical committee had a colorful discussion today about initiating chat reference. We've been looking into doing this for several years but haven't gotten anywhere. What did come out of our meeting today is that we do believe, based on the types of questions we're receiving through QuestionPoint, that chat reference should be done "in-house." One tool we've been looking at is Meebo. Is anyone currently using Meebo to provide reference services and, if so, could you tell me about your experiences?

Related to this comes the staffing issue. This is another "new" technology that requires time and attention. We seem to perpetually be stretched to our limits in terms of adding new services without being able to stop older ones or add staff. To start chat reference is to create the need for another manned post and us librarians already feel like we've got nothing left to give without adding "one more thing." It feels like most people would support adding new services if they only had the time to do them. Has anyone been in a similar situation with trying to add web 2.0 services and, if so, how did you or your system deal with it?

Thanks much,
Krista

[Brian C. Gray]

Laurie's comments bring up something else I can share. Our current chat reference service requires people to click on a link that opens a pop up. We get many people that we cannot help due to pop up blockers. It is one of the reasons we are investing IM alternatives.

[Kaijsa Calkins]

We're using Meebo for IM reference and have a MeeboMe widget on our Ask page: http://www-lib.uwyo.edu/services/ask.cfm/. Patrons can pop it out if they want, but can also just type right on the page. We've offered IM reference since just after spring break this year, and it hasn't been very busy. When I introduce it to students in instruction sessions or post it to course management systems, they respond positively. Perhaps traffic will pick up over time.

The only problems we have are on the staff end. People don't notice when messages come in and some people are not logging in during their reference shifts. I want the service to be available whenever we offer reference in other formats, and I don't want patrons who try it to give up because we aren't responsive. I'm trying to figure out how to make it work. The problem as I see it is that only a couple of our librarians use IM personally, so it's a challenge to add it into their workflow.

[Cindy Judd]

We are providing IM reference via Meebo. We have a meebome widget on our Find Articles page, and will be adding it on other parts of our website in the fall. (we are undergoing a web remodel and are also redoing our Ask A Lib page, which will include the widget as well) We included the widget as a popup, and though it can be a potential problem with pop-up blockers in browsers, it seems to be a nice feature because users can have that window open and surf through databases and other windows without losing us. Our IM stats doubled when we added the widget. I think our librarians can totally related to the "one more thing" mentality. We staff IM away from the reference desk because it is too busy to try and do both IM and in-person reference there. So, we have an understanding that sometimes a staff member is covering IM while in a meeting (not all meetings will allow for this, but some do), so they bring their laptop in there with them and sign on from there. We also staff IM from home (some of us) so we can cover late into the evenings. We try to make it so that covering IM can happen at a convenient place for our staff, and we do it in two hours shifts. I hope this gives you some insights. It isn't perfect here, but we are finding ways to make it work for us because our stats show our students are using the service. Let me know if I can answer any questions for you! :) Cindy

[Kyle Cook]

Could someone offer more detail on how their Meebo is set up? I use Meebo for personal/professional IM. Seeing as we are prone to spammers here, I would not want to use that same profile for virtual reference. I can monitor more than one meebo, right?


From the discussion, it sounds like most of you are using the MeeboMe widget. It is great, but it does not lend itself to having several librarians monitor simultaneously.

I was looking more at Meebo rooms. I'm a little confused by the logisitcs. Can you set up a meebo room that you monitor in your regular meebo account? Or do you have to actually go to the meebo room on that web page? Also, can you add a meebo room to more than one web site.

Then, there is also the privacy issue, the meebo room is public. Anyway to make it a private (but publicly-accessible) room?