IM and it’s use

I realize I haven’t written anything about IM yet. I was a bit disappointed when I activated it on my work computer in acquisitions. The computer immediately began to run slower so I haven’t used it for a while. It may have been just a problem with IE-the problem didn’t seem severe when I switched to Mozilla. I guess I’ll try again. I would guess that the library might be thinking of using IM to inform users when books they have recalled or their Interlibrary loans etc… are ready for collection and I know that other libraries use IM for this. But I also heard it worked better at Universities where students were required to purchase laptops and have them connected to the university internet. Here, as far as I know, that isn’t true and we can’t be sure that users even have internet access at home. On the other hand I think all students have mobile phones and I have used “Telephony” software commercially to send out “Pick up” notices by text message direct to user/customers’ mobile phones. With this system all the mobile phone numbers are added into a batch screen at once and the program sends the text message (“Your book/item is ready for collection at Central Library Issue Desk”) or whatever) to all phones all at once- It was a great time saving device and we had a very good response rate from customers who would often show up immediately to pick up their books. It might be a better method of almost instant messaging here.