Cell phones and library services

Aaron Schmidt offers a valuable update about SELU Library's SMS Reference Program that allows students to use cell phones to text their reference questions to the library. Wish I could go to Virtual Reference Desk Conference this year to hear the presentation by J.B. Hill about the service at SELU. As I've mentioned in previous posts here about SMS reference, I think it can open an yet another communication point with our users.

Here at Baruch College, we haven't yet explored SMS reference, but we do have an interesting program called AirBaruch that is now campus-wide pilot (it was limited to a small number of students last school year, as I mentioned in an earlier post about AirBaruch) that allows students to use their cell phones to check availablity of group study rooms and laptop computers; the service plucks the data out of our OPAC and then feeds it in real-time to the students' cell phones. The service also offers other sources of campus information and can connect with Blackboard (although I'm not sure how at the moment).