IM at GSU COMO 2006 Sarah Steiner

Getting Started The impending expiration of GSU’s QuestionPoint contract led to the exploration of other options IM met with mixed librarian opinions, but all felt it was worth investigating Service launched February 1, 2006 AIM, MSN and Yahoo! via Gaim

Staff Buy-In In order to create buy in I: …included advocates and skeptics on the planning committee. …spoke individually with all the librarians who would be staffing the service and addressed their concerns. The service was shortly adopted by the Access Services (Circulation) Department

Staffing 25 people cover the service Day vs Night shifts: During the day we staff in one hour shifts from our desks At night IM is staffed from the reference desk Dealing with shift changes has been the biggest problem with staffing.

Getting the Word Out Website banner Business cards Flyers all around campus Mention in BI classes Ad in student paper

Student Response Steady, but not earth shattering Students have been very complimentary, and there has been very little abuse of the service

IM vs QP Both are highly useful and draw a different crowd. QP is essential for individuals who don’t have IM accounts and need assistance from the webpage. IM is preferred by students who use IM regularly. QP still gets more traffic, but IM gets many repeat customers.