A number of students have been taking advantage of the option to instant message librarians since it became available last semester.
The screen name "TischLibrarian" has already answered over four hundred questions via IM from students and faculty regarding the research and navigation of library facilities, and that number continues to grow.
"We just want this to be another point of access for us to help students," Tisch's Assistant Director for Teaching and Research Laura Walters said.
The reference desk had been available for telephone and e-mail contact for years, and Tisch Public Relations Coordinator Stephanie St. Laurence said that adding the new service was a natural transition.
"For me it was important that we moved into that mode of communication because it is the preferred mode for students," she said. "It's nice that even if they're in their dorm room, we can still help them quickly."
According to Walters, approximately 249 people have sent questions and approximately 133 of them have used the service at least twice.
Some of those students were already in the library, but found it more convenient to ask their questions without going to the reference desk and disrupting their work.
"We tend to be asked the same sort of questions on IM that we are asked in person, but this is the more comfortable medium of conversation for the students and we want to respond to it," Reference Librarian Marie Deuerlein said. "We get everything from directional questions to questions about the catalogue [or] how to verify a citation."
At least so far, no students have taken advantage of the librarians by leaving prank messages instead of real questions.
"People don't tend to prank us, but I don't think students intend to waste their time playing pranks on librarians," Deuerlein said. "Once I received an IM from someone who thought I was a classmate, and proceeded to tell me everything he had had for dinner, but when I told him that this was a librarian speaking, he apologized and said 'wrong IM.'"
Librarians emphasized that if they are asked questions simultaneously on IM and at the reference desk, the student at the reference desk will take priority, and the student on IM may have to be placed on hold momentarily.
"We still haven't had any complaints, however, and there are no signs that we need additional staffers," St. Laurence said.
"Librarians always multitask," Deuerlein added. "We try to help as many people as possible, answering IMs and telephone calls at the same time. We'll ask people to call back or IM back if their questions are particularly long. "
Even though the program has enjoyed some early success, the vast majority of students have never used it.
Associate Librarian Chao Chen suggested that this could be because some still find it somewhat awkward.
"Some students feel like IM is a social tool and are hesitant to use it for academic purposes," she said. "They still feel like, 'It's my space and I don't want to invite you in just yet.'"
And others just prefer face-to-face communication.
"Students do still prefer talking in person, but it depends on how involved the question is and how soon they need an answer," Chen said.
