Darien Library Offers Helpful Texting Service
NEIRAD enilno edition
The Darien Library has opened a new door of communication between students and librarians, with the “Text a Librarian” service. The service was implemented in response to studies that show Americans text twice as much as they talk on their cell phones.
"People are on the go so much these days, and we want to be able to communicate the way they do, to give another access point for students to reach us," Darien librarian Heather Martyn said.
All anyone has to do to text a librarian is text “AskDL” to 66746. A standard reply will follow the text, prompting the user to save the number as “AskDL”. When I tried the service I received an automatic reply from Mosio that stated that the Library was not open at the time the question was texted, and that the library would answer it when it opened at 9AM. Promptly at 9am, I received a text asking to re-send the question. After re-sending it, I got another automated reply from Mosio and no answer to my question.
The “Text a Librarian” service is primarily for people to ask short questions. For example, let’s say you’re doing a history project on the American Civil War, and you need to know on which date the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. The date can be discovered by texting a librarian.
Ms. Martyn said the service is to be used for finding phone numbers, addresses, or the answer to any other short, random question that librarians might be able to find with their given resources. Questions can be texted during library hours, and Ms Martyn and Darien librarian Sally Ijams said that they would try to respond as quickly as possible. They also said that longer questions should be e-mailed to askus@darienlibrary.org, rather than submitted by text.
As one might guess, the library is targeting one particular age group with this texting service. Ms Martyn said, "High school students are the group that we're trying to target the most." "Studies show that teens text more than most others, so naturally they are our primary target. But other age groups are obviously very welcome to text us as well."
The “Text a Librarian” service was developed by Mosio, award-winning mobile technology company that focuses on mobile marketing, mobile workforce communications, SMS text messaging, and mobile web development. Mosio is also a “question and answer” community search service, where users can send their questions to a certain number or e-mail address. Answers will be returned to them, the questions answered by other Mosio users.
According to Mosio’s website, more than 500 academic and public libraries are now using the “Text a Librarian” service, including Yale, Cornell, Harvard, and New York Public Library. If a student at DHS or any of the above schools were to quietly text a librarian for an answer during a text, the answer will probably get back to them. However, it seems unlikely that a teacher wouldn’t be able to hear the buzzing of the phone or the typing of the student, so nobody expects any problems with the service.
With this new, revolutionary texting service, students will have an easy way to ask questions about school assignments when a computer is unavailable. The free service (standard text messaging rates apply) offers a cheaper alternative to other texting services such as KGB, which require a $1 fee per question, although librarians will only answer your questions during library hours. The service looks to be a very convenient tool for students.
