I like to track librarians’ efforts to make public libraries and their services accessible on mobile devices. Reports like this one from Nielsen forecast that accessing web content from your cellphone is going to be the widespread norm of the future no matter where you live. The big question is how can public libraries find a way to leverage their content in a manner that identifies them as unique, convenient, and fun to use on a mobile device? There are a million issues and difficulties associated with this challenge, but the other day I was lurking on the PubLib listserv and picked up on an interesting thread. While my head is constantly spinning with outlandish ideas about custom ebook reader devices, iPhone apps and copyright law problems, sometimes I have to slap myself because the answer is so simple. The first iteration of mobile library services is and will be text message alerts for things like overdue fines, the arrival of an item placed on hold, or really any kind of alert associated with a patron’s account. Why? Because the infrastructure is already there, and it can be expanded upon.
Corinne Dickman posted to PubLib and then explained to me in an email how she has integrated text message alerts into the ILS at her library in Washoe County, Nevada:
“We use Unicorn through Sirsi/Dynix for our ILS, which has the email notification already enabled. By adding the cell number according to the carrier’s instructions as an additional email, the user gets two notifications of holds, overdues, etc. A form allows us to indicate that we don’t charge, consult your carrier, getting the text is not a guarantee, and we also can’t guarantee the message will come across in one text message, or how long it will be.
When I asked her how she figured this out, she said:
“I’m a 45 year old librarian addicted to texting! I was absolutely peeved to discover that text messaging to talk to our patrons how THEY want to be communicated with was expensive and unwieldy. So I remembered from years ago that one could send a text via email. Course, the kids all knew it! So I experimented with multiple email addresses within the library record-just mine-and discovered that I could get the same notification three times: my work email, my home email, and my cell.”
Awesome. I figure that this must be easy enough to set up regardless of what ILS you are using at your library, and I couldn’t believe that this isn’t a standard service everywhere just yet. Hopefully some librarians will read this post, give it a shot, and write back to let everyone know if it is working for them. AND- if you are already doing this at your library and are having success with it, please share your stories! Also, why not take this a step further- if your ILS can send messages to your phone that a book has arrived, what other doors does this potentially open? On the flip side, when would you find you are getting too much information pushed to your cellphone, when would alerts become obnoxious, or even invasive?
Tags: mobile library, nate hill, text messaging
[...] Text Message Alerts…10.02.08 2 10 2008 Nate Hill had an interesting post today [http://plablog.org/2008/10/omg-text-message-alerts-from-your-library-is-easy.html] on the PLA blog regarding using text message alerts for various functions in the [...]
This is ridiculously convenient- the couple of patrons I have suggested this to have almost leaped up and down with acceptance and excitement. Spread the message!
[...] Text message notificaiton made simple - http://plablog.org/2008/10/omg-text-message-alerts-from-your-library-is-easy.html [...]
Because of all the problems involved with doing it this way, that isn’t the answer though. We need our ILS systems to be able to send sms formatted messages, and to allow customers to just enter their cell phone numbers to set it up. Our notice emails are at a minimum 630 characters, which would result in 5 (140 char) text messages. Cell phone customers typically pay per message, or buy a pack of 300+ messages a month. When each notice takes 5+ text messages to send, it can quickly eat into that and become annoying to the customer.
Customers should also be able to choose to limit the number of sms messages they receive a month/week to limit the damage that can be done to their account.
I’m not going to hold my breath that the proprietary commercial ILS vendors are going to come out with this service anytime soon, they move much too slow, but hopefully I am wrong. Evergreen or Koha can probably implement this quickly if there is enough interest.
Oh, and several libraries have been doing “Send call numbers to SMS” for a while now, which demonstrates the right way to do things as far as message size goes. (This is done with a simple perl script IIRC)
http://phebe.bowdoin.edu/record=b2012891~S1 (Button on center of page)
We have integrated text capability into several areas of our website.
We have a “send to phone” button that can send callnumbers to mobile devices. It’s in our catalog (http://webcat.carmel.lib.in.us) at the callnumber level.
We’ve integrated program reminders sent as texts — they queue up and are sent out the day before the event. See our calendar at http://www.carmel.lib.in.us/calendar/calendar.cfm
We’re working on notices but I haven’t pulled the trigger on that yet. I want them to be under the character limit and succinct (existing notices are too wordy for the text environment).
I’m writing an article on some of this stuff, but it won’t be published until January 2009.
I’m curious to see what others are doing with texting..
There are already means in place to notify patrons of overdue materials and holds and such. It’s called the postal mail. If it’s not broken, why fix it?
@annoyed:
Just offering another option. A lot of people really like communicating via text message. Its really incredibly convenient- I always have my phone with me but I don’t always have my official USPS mailbox with me.
Postal mail is slow and costs money…
Since my last message, I have implemented text message notices. We have seen times from text notice sent to item picked up in as little as 25 minutes.
As is mentioned, people carry their phones everywhere. Texting them of a hold pickup means they can swing by the library and get the item if they are out and about. Average text is read and responded to in less than 20 minutes — phone, e-mail, and snail mail are nowhere close.
The faster the item is picked up, the quicker our hold queue moves. That means we may not have to purchase as many copies to satisfy demand. If an item sits on the hold shelf for 3 days while the USPS does their thing, the queue gets longer and longer..
I have an article out in the Jan. 2009 Computers in Libraries talking about our implementations of various text messaging ideas.
Peter Konshak
http://pklibrarytech.blogspot.com/