"IM" at your desk?

I have been thinking about the advantage of having a chat window open at all reference desks across the county. There could be a notification system that would pop-up a flag and beep when a branch needs attention of another branch (for example, when one branch needs another to pull a book). This might be easier (in some cases) than picking up the phone to call for a hold. This would lessen typos of patron’s names. If this was integrated into the staff catalog it could double check the status to make sure the item is checked-in at that library and there would be no more need to spend time saying the title, author and call number (or even typing all of it, once the other library pulls up the entry that their patron needs they could click a staff only button to request a specific copy).

You can see how this would be different than sending an e-mail. With this set-up the message flag would pop-up for whoever is at the reference desk and the ringing from the staff computer would not be any different than the phone ringing for assistance.

There are lots of details that would need to be worked out but hopefully these ideas coming out of HCPLC=Lib2.0 will inspire some people with possibilites for better customer service through emerging technology. Let's keep up the Best...Dream...Ever for Library 2.0