I've had an entire day on the airplane (got up at 3am to catch a 6am flight) to sort through all of the diverse areas of information I picked up at Internet Librarian. While I went there with the intent of focusing on podcasting and videocasting, I came away with much more. If I had to sum up the message of the vast majority of presenters, I have just one word for you - MOBILE. We've become an increasingly mobile society with a huge segment of the population using their smart phones not only to communicate vocally but also texting and instant messaging. They have GPS installed on them to find good restaurants, bookstores and, yes, even the location of libraries. Look for more phones like iPhones to be released soon - Have you seen the G1 yet - Google's response to Apple was released less than a month ago.
What does this have to do with our Library? Well, Overdrive is now giving our patrons the option to be text-messaged when a book becomes available. This is faster than email. Would it be possible for patrons to be texted when a book request is there for them? What about a text message when a new book by their favorite author is ordered. It's just a short jump from chat reference to SMS text reference. There are libraries out there currently doing all of these things. At PDL, we may not implement them now, but as word gets out, our patrons will want one or more of these services down the road.
What can we do now to get ready? Well, I for one, have taken a crash course on SMS during the past week. I've sent more text messages in three days than in the past two years. So, I think we should all at least become familiar with the technology. Ask your younger relatives to show you how. I had to phone my son to find out how to text. Sad! At the very least, we all need to read more about this innovation.
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