One of the things that I think is great about Ask VBPL is that anyone can access it. You don't have to have a personal IM account. Some people might not be really into IM, but love the convenience of using it once in a while to get information. As for how it's going for VBPL, I think it may still be too early to tell. I was speaking to one of our Information Specialists regarding IM and she said that at the most she'll have 2 people IM her. Usually it's someone from within the library system. That's not necessarily a bad thing - at least people are using IM.
There are pros and cons to this as there is with anything. It takes our info people off the desk to sit at a computer where they would be lucky to help 1 or 2 people with a question. Still, it's a great outlet that I think will become more and more popular with time and awareness.
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