1. Presented by Brent Husher Library Instruction Coordinator University of Missouri – Kansas City Husherb@umkc.edu

2. University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC) Fall 2009 total enrollment - 14,818 Undergraduate FT 6364, PT 3134 Graduate/Professional FT 2865, PT 2555 124 Academic Programs in 12 Schools Volker Campus & Health Sciences Campus

3. Students at UMKC Average Age: 24 29% of students are 25 or older 64% of first year students live on campus 16% of all undergraduate students live on campus

4. Libraries at UMKC UMKC University Libraries Miller Nichols Library Health Sciences Library Dental Library Law School Library Linda Hall Library (private library, surrounded by campus)

5. Implementation of Texting Program

6. Step 1 – What Kind of Texting Service Mobile Phone Option Open Source Option Mosio’s Text a Librarian Option

7. Step 2 - Considerations Setup Time Technological Expertise & Comfort In terms of setup In terms of providing service Cost

8. More Considerations Nature of Questions/Service Philosophy Who answers the questions? Hours of Service Training

9. Text a Librarian System - Cost Cost for Standard Package $99.92/month (billed annually at $1199) + 199 setup fee for first year What’s included? 1 Dedicated Microboard 10 User Logins 1000 Outbound Texts/Month Unlimited Inbound Texts (questions) Email/phone tech support

10. Text a Librarian – Other plans http://www.textalibrarian.com/pricing.php

11. Text a Librarian – how it works Step 1 – User send question to library with keyword (e.g. umkc). Keyword only has to be used first time question is sent.

12. Text a Librarian – how it works Step 2 – Library faculty and staff notified of question Email Text IM Through the browser

13. Text a Librarian – how it works Step 3 - After notification, we check the question queue (microboard)

14. Text a Librarian – how it works Step 4 - Answer the question – and a text is to the user

15. Text a Librarian – Benefits Cost -- $100/month Easy to use from staff perspective (variety of tech skills) Easy to download questions & create stats User privacy

16. Text a Librarian – Benefits Training opportunities (record of questions & answers) Canned answers (for commonly asked questions) Auto answers sent when library is closed

17. Text a Librarian -- Opportunities A different reference philosophy (no reference interview) How to refer more complicated questions How to refer questions appropriate to other library units

18. In classes (w/business cards) At Service Desks (w/business cards) On the Web Press Releases Marketing

19. Marketing – the business card

20. Marketing – the web

21. The Pitch Blog

22. Local NBC Affiliate

23. The Questions 394 text questions received August 27, 2009 – April 30, 2010 304 Fall Semester 90 Spring Semester

24. Reference Questions Reference – 199 questions or 51% Academic – 111 Movies – 14 Definitions -31 Trivia – 43 In-depth questions – 14

25. Service Questions Service – 135 questions or 34% Library – 64 Library hours – 31 or 8% University – 28 Community - 12

26. Other Questions Testing/ Fake questions -32 questions- 8.1% Follow-up comments-19 – 4.8% Complaints (Red)– 9 2.3%

27. Your Questions