presentation given at the ILLiad International Conference, Virginia Beach, VA, March 2013

1. {
The Right Txt
Derek Malone, MLIS, ILL & DE
Ohio University Libraries

2. Ñ If you have any questions, or would like some
help implementing text messaging, please don’t
hesitate to contact me at maloned@ohio.edu, or
740-­‐‑593-­‐‑2691

3. Ñ We’re hosted (Atlas) – since July 2012
Ñ ILLiad 8.3.5
Ñ Serve students, faculty, staff, Friends
Ñ Around 40,000 transactions annually
Ñ A LOT OF EMAILS!!!
Ñ Started texting Summer 2012
Background

4. Ñ 75% of teenagers text
Ñ “I don’t check my email”
Ñ Most common form of communication
Ñ That’s over
Ó Phone
Ó Social Networking
Ó Face-­‐‑to-­‐‑face
Why?

5. hfp://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Teens-­‐‑
and-­‐‑Tech.aspx
PewResearch: Teens and
Technology 2013
78% of teens now have a cell phone, and almost half
(47%) of them own smartphones

6. 137 / 20

7. Windows 3.1

8. Contact me?

9. Ñ Smartphone or not, we can send
SMS messages.
Why?

10. Duz any1 currently offer txt
msgN notifications?
hfp://transl8it.com/

12. Setup

14. Ñ User purge coming up – Summer 2013
Ñ We’d like to get as many through this process
(get them via email) as we can
Ñ Signups checked daily as part of workflow
Ñ Slow at first
Ñ Now 1-­‐‑4 daily

19. ,

20. Text address first, followed
by email

21. ,

22. #

23. # signifies texting patron

27. Ñ Only borrowing & document express
Ñ Notifications – lefing users know content is
available, or a request has been granted/denied
Ñ Overdues, Delivery Notifications, Renewals (y/n/
date), etc.
Ñ Only a minor changes in cancellations, things that
need a deep explanation
Ñ Simplified use of files (elecdel for all e-­‐‑delivery)
Ñ Not pursuing this in lending
Ñ Work in progress
What we’ve changed

28. Ñ Good starting point
Ñ Notification sent to every loan that applies
Ñ Again, we only notify via email and text
Overdues

29. Generic/Old Overdue

31. Ñ Your phone number is:

32. New Overdue 1 Notice

43. Ñ Important notes
1. We only email notifications
2. We deliver articles electronically
3. We have 1 pickup point for loans *
Delivery

53. Ñ First bit of praise came concerning the email
notification, and continues to do so.
Ñ Patrons like the simplified, to-­‐‑the-­‐‑point
message.
Ñ Text has also been well received.
Ñ Cleaning up for the purpose of text messaging
helps us look befer in a mobile email
environment
What we heard/learned -­‐‑
Notifications

54. Ñ Sent through borrowing
Ñ We do not communication via text for loan
Renewals & Recalls

55. Renewed

57. Old Renewal Denied
Email

60. Recall

62. Doesn’t work every time

63. Cancellations

65. Ñ Cancellations notices require too much
explanation (our opinion-­‐‑explanation we
want to give), so they’re still long
Ñ Occasional dead links (Verizon)
Ñ Delivery on article takes a couple extra
steps, but we believe it’s worth it.
Negatives

66. Ñ Know your customers view:
Key Points

67. Let your web and physical
location speak

68. Make 140 Count

69. thx so much 4 yor tym. R
ther NE questions?