What's Happening @ the Little Elm Public Library

08/24/09
I finally broke down and bought a new phone. It all came about when my old phone’s battery kept going out when someone called. My standard answering procedure started being “talk fast, my battery is going out”. Not real professional. So, I stepped into the twenty first century and bought a phone that has a qwerty keyboard so I can text, a camera for taking pictures, and a speakerphone, etc. The good thing is that it only cost me ten dollars and my monthly bill is not supposed to be too much either. One reason that I needed text is to keep in touch with my daughter who will be having a baby soon. She is Queen of Text. The other reason is to get better at texting and understanding text language that we are using in a national collaborative text messaging service.

My Info quest--- In a press release written by Kitty Pope of Alliance Library System, My Info Quest is the first collaborative text messaging reference service of its kind. Alliance Library System (http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com) in East Peoria, Illinois has partnered with approximately 50 participating libraries (including Little Elm Public Library www.littleelm.org/library ) across the United States, Altarama (http://www.altarama.com) and Web Clarity Software Inc. (http://www.webclarity.info) developers of Peoplewhere (http://www.peoplewhere.com) to build this exciting new reference service. To use this service just txt (309) 222-7740 and put “LEL” before your question if you are in the Little Elm or surrounding area. The LEL shows that you are in the Little Elm Public Library area. A librarian somewhere across the United States will text an expert answer to you within ten minutes of the hours of service. The service runs Monday through Friday 8am-10pm and Saturday 9am-5pm Central time. Standard txt msging rates apply.

Speaking of service, how are we doing? We would like to hear from you. Please visit our survey at http://tinyurl.com/lelibrarysurvey and let us know what you think. Our goal is to provide you with the best service that we can. We are looking forward to hearing from you.

Last minute reminders! If you picked up the Texas Tornado Hockey Reading program forms, they are due by Thursday, August 27th at 8pm to be eligible for the drawing on Saturday, August 29th at 10:30am. That is when Texas Tornado Hockey Team mascot Ike the Polar Bear visits family story time and will draw the winning entries for a free hockey game voucher provided by Little Elm Friends of the Library. Remember that the reading program is for all ages but kid’s ages 6-12 who read or listen to ten items will automatically receive a voucher for the October 24th hockey game. Also, August is National Inventors Month and Inventors Digest magazine is hosting a national youth essay contest for ages 12-17. Forms can be picked up at the library or by visiting the website at www.InventorsDigest.com. The contest ends August 31st.

Mum’s the word! The library is hosting a mum workshop on Thursday, September 3rd at 6:30pm. The workshop is being presented by Woodhaven Creations for thirteen years old and up. The fee is only $15 but registration is required so give us a call at 214-975-0430 by Monday, August 31st at 5pm to reserve your spot!

IM Wat IM

Well, that didn't take as long as I thought it would. IM or instant messaging, a concept that I tried years ago when first learning about computers. I did not like it then as a home use but have learned the benefits of it in the workplace. Since taking the 23 Things Web 2.0 experience but before learning about IM in the 23 things lesson, we have become part of a national pilot program of mobile reference service My Info Quest (the patron texts an answer and librarians answer via the computer). IM has come into play while attending the numerous meetings leading up to and during the project. The meetings are a combination of web, IM chat, and audio. Talk about multi-tasking :-) Since becoming involved in the mobile reference project I have been occasionally practicing text speak in conversations with staff. That gets interesting. As I get better at it, I will probably try it with some of our patrons to promote the mobile reference service. I do think IM has a place in the library setting and in regards to the text service, the IM lingo is important because you are only allowed so many characters. This can be a challenge for someone like myself who is very wordy or as some people have said about my writing style "chatty". I think the funniest thing is that IM lingo has been around for years, probably even before computers, it just wasn't called IM. I did choose gmail/google talk mainly because I already have my blog in google, and the reference service is provided through gmail so I figured this would give me even more experience with the various different functions google has to offer. TTFN and CHREO (made that one up...send your comments on what you think it means)