I’ve never ever had a librarian tell me “we do not care about patron privacy or security at our library.” And come to think of it, I haven’t had them even say it’s not that big of a deal. Security breaches stink and they can be harmful as the news of Twitter’s secret information exposed […]
Author Archives: mobilereference
Beyond 160 Characters in the Library – Text Messaging Reference Doesn't Need to Be Limiting
There seem to be varying stories about the history of SMS (Text Messaging) and why Friedhelm Hillebrand, the creator of SMS, decided on 160 as THE number. Some say it’s the amount of characters on a typical postcard, many other stories not that he just determined it while sitting at his type-writer in Germany, noting […]
Library Marketing Tip Mondays: Promoting Text Messaging Reference Services at Your Library – Posted Weekly in August
At ALA Annual in Chicago we got a wonderful chance to meet more of our clients face to face, get some feedback, thoughts, questions and shared excitement about offering text messaging reference service to patrons. An instruction and electronic services librarian using our service at an academic library asked if I had any suggestions or […]
Mobilized: Text a Librarian on the iPhone / iPod Touch
We recently tested out Text a Librarian on the iPhone 3GS and had great success. Love your iPhone or iPod Touch? So do we. Mosio’s Text a Librarian works perfectly on both. iPhone Screen Shot: Mobile reference for librarians who enjoy being mobile. We don’t recommend using a mobile phone as your sole text messaging […]
Gearing up for ALA Annual 2009 as a Library Mobile Technology Company
Trade shows and conferences can be exhausting. You’re over-stimulated, standing up, talking a lot, meeting people, smiling and doing what you can to make a great impression. A number of friends that I speak to are not all that excited about them when they have to go, but there’s no point in talking about those […]
Mosio's Text a Librarian Thanks J.B. Hill – The Pioneer of Text Message Reference in the Library
Was reading through some old posts about the subject recently and wanted to take a moment to recognize and thank J.B. Hill from Southeastern Louisiana University, for being the pioneer of text message reference in libraries. The Librarian in Black recognized him in a post back in November of 2005 and we just want to […]
Reference Librarians: SMS / Text Messaging Skills Are Not Needed, Your Research and People Skills Are
Reference Librarians: SMS Skills Are Not Needed, Your Research Skills Are As excited as I am to see that more and more libraries are seeing the value of offering text message reference service to patrons, I find it troublesome to read posts and articles claiming that “librarians need SMS skills now.” It’s unnecessary pressure being […]
Library Software and Reference Technologies: Software as a Service (SaaS) Value
While reading a great article by Marshall Breeding about library automation and the state of the economy, I was very pleased to see Software as a Service (SaaS) listed as a lower cost strategy: “[a SaaS] arrangement involves a fixed, annual subscription fee, but it saves the library the costs of purchasing software licenses, server […]
Social Networks, Web 2.0 Services and Collaboration Tools in the Library
I’m fascinated by the new report from Robin Hastings, Collaboration 2.0 and I haven’t even read it yet. My fascination with it is the fact, and I’m not really too surprised given the library industry, that a report has been written to help library managers make a case for utilizing social networks to increase outreach […]