We get asked how much information can be shared via text message. Not surprisingly, many people don’t think it is much, even considering the average mobile user manages to share a lot of info with friends, family and co-workers texting from their mobile phones.

In 1984 when SMS (Text Messaging) was invented, Friedhelm Hillebrand decided on 160 characters because it was the average amount of characters that fit on a typical postcard in those he counted. The postcard above (written by Rush drummer Neil Peart in 1984, the very same year SMS was invented) is 254 characters including sign off and his name. If you haven’t seen one of Neil’s drum solos, they are truly amazing, but also a tad longer than your average rock drum solo and worth every second (scroll to the 6 minute mark in the video below if you don’t have time to watch the whole thing).

98.15 Characters (61.4%)

That is the average number of characters in an outbound response from our clients to their patrons, students and customers. The important thing to remember is that ultimately, users understand the medium they’re using. Text messaging is conversational and short, but plenty of information can be shared in a single text message.

So what does 160 characters look like?

Here’s my personal favorite quote (from Charles Kingsley), I try to live by it every day. 159 characters including the quotation marks:
“We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.”

For Text a Librarian customers who are less like Charles Kingsley and more like Neil Peart, we enabled you to send longer responses, automatically breaking them over several text messages when needed.

We have been exploring the idea of “Patron Relationship Management” (PRM) and it is the theme of this Q&A series. What areas of PRM are you seeing where libraries can benefit the most? What roles can mobile technologies play?
Libraries employ a variety of methods to establish and maintain quality service relationships with customers. Defining a patron relationship management (PRM) strategy ensures that library services align with the vision and goals of the institution and sets the standard for service consistency. As emerging information technologies have driven demand for new library communication channels, we’ve seen increased interest in the use of mobile and social tools to promote interactivity, expand outreach, market programs, and enhance the library service experience across digital platforms, and in our physical spaces, too. PRM tools offer integrated solutions to help libraries identify needs and priorities, obtain and assess feedback, and strengthen customer relationships.

While all libraries strive to deliver timely, effective, and seamless service to their users, many operate with minimal staffing and limited financial resources, which inhibit opportunities to take even modestly innovative risks. When you factor in the steady technological advancements of the last five years alone, combined with the outstanding cultural shift taking place in the way we collectively communicate and interact with information, what’s needed now and what’s realistic for libraries to implement right way become very different conversations. Meanwhile, patron expectations continue to evolve, and mobile users seeking mobile access to library services and collections expect to find what they need readily available. What they’re actually finding ranges from splendidly concise library mobile websites and mobile searchable catalogs to advanced and complex apps; from straightforward SMS reference services to mobile-social communities via Facebook and Twitter; from value-added mobile services (QR codes, augmented reality, place-based digital collections, research guides, and more) to no mobile services at all. How do you prioritize services and engage users across the spectrum of mobile interest? Early adopters are now adept at navigating the mobile information experience, and fledgling users expect those delivering the information to anticipate their needs.

Patron relationship management via text messaging supports mobile users at all levels of engagement by promoting direct, responsive, communication, and allows libraries to address and assess mobile information needs of their unique customer base. Mobile PRM expands the SMS reference concept to combine marketing, outreach, and interactivity to meet a broader need for information services beyond the reference inquiry. A study of the Text a Librarian statistics at Southern Connecticut State University, where I implemented and managed SMS reference from 2010-2011, determined a 60/40 split between reference and non-reference mobile interactions. As more libraries provide mobile offerings, including patron self-service features, mobile payments, room reservations and program registrations, and access to ebooks and digital collections, expect non-reference communications from mobile users to increase.

Social media is such a hot button topic for libraries as well as companies in CRM (Customer Relationship Management). How do you respond to libraries that say “Ok, we have a Facebook Page and a Twitter account. Now what?”
Consider how these accounts support the communications and PRM strategy of the organization. Actually, this should be part of the first step, along with determining the name and brand that will be used to represent the organization. If you have the accounts already, make the time to have these discussions retrospectively. Document the organization’s social media objectives and priorities. Include a flexible structure and expect it to evolve. Train staff in social media norms and culture, functional use of the technology, and how and which channels to use for different types of content, and why. Staff the position like any public service. It’s not enough to simply monitor accounts; social media is proactive and interactive. Connect with others and build a network; this is your audience and community. Publish regular content, communicate with and respond to users, set goals, and track and assess progress. Who in the organization will be responsible for delivering timely, informed, interesting, valuable content on a regular basis? If multiple staff members will participate, who will manage the service and ensure consistency? Who will answer incoming questions across the organization’s social media channels and adequately and appropriately represent the organization’s vision and values? Who will manage analytics and report on statistics? Who will determine what content will be archived and how? Social media offers short-term, immediate engagement opportunities which can have long-term effect on consumer interest and loyalty. The advantages are high; the barrier to entry, generally, low. Libraries and organizations can work with partners, peers, and firms like design think do to establish an action plan for implementing and assessing communications, marketing, and PRM strategies via social media.

What is the most innovative new technology you’ve seen or heard about? Is there a way libraries can and should utilize it?
Mobile technologies, and related developments in the mobile-social information environment, are a driving force for innovation today. It’s difficult to pick just one aspect of mobile tech and call it “the most innovative” especially since we’re in a time of constant development, advancement, and growth, and mobile culture has widespread, cross-industry implications. Smart phones, such as iPhone and Android devices, multi-functional e-readers and tablet devices, such as the iPad, B&N Nook, and Kindle Fire are all being used to search, access, store, create, organize and interact with information. This is all still new technology to many of us; and even for the mobile-proficient, next generation devices and new applications with increased functionality and complexity continue to vex and inspire. Furthermore, expanding public interest in mobile services, including access to e-books and digital content, is fueling controversy related to digital publication, distribution, and licensing, for libraries, publishers, vendors, and organizations of all types. Libraries can and should utilize mobile technologies within the context of their organizational priorities and community needs. At minimum, librarians should actively learn about the changes that are taking place in the mobile sphere and consider how mobile technologies, social media, PRM and related innovations fit the goals and objectives of their libraries.

Thanks so much for your time! In closing, what are some great resources (along with contacting you, of course) for libraries looking to improve patron experiences and service?
Selected resources on mobile libraries, mobile culture, and patron self- service:

• Americans and their Cell Phones (Aaron Smith, Pew Internet & American Life Project, 8/15/2011)
• ASIST Bulletin, Special Section on Mobile Libraries (Oct/Nov 2011)
• Gone Mobile? Mobile Libraries Survey 2010 (Lisa Carlucci Thomas, Library Journal, 10/15/2010)
• Handheld Librarian Online Conference
• Libraries & Mobile Tech (Lisa Carlucci Thomas, Southern Connecticut State University, 3/12/2010)
• LJ Virtual Tech Summit Explores How Libraries Use Tech To Connect with Patrons (David Rapp, Library Journal, 12/12/2011)
• m-libraries conference 2012
• m-libraries – Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki
• Mobile Access 2010 (Aaron Smith, Pew Internet & American Life Project, 7/7/2010)
• Mobile Intent Index (Ruder Finn – http://www.ruderfinn.com)
• Mobile Trends 2011 (Megan Fox & Amy Deschanes, NELA, 6/17/2011)
• Risk, Reality, & the Mobile Revolution (Lisa Carlucci Thomas, Handheld Librarian III Keynote, 7/28/2010)

About Lisa:
Lisa Carlucci Thomas is a nationally recognized librarian and author known for her leadership, innovation, and research on mobile and social technologies. Her expertise includes ebooks, mobile libraries, social media, and technology trends and training. Lisa is the Director of design think do, providing custom creative services and innovation consulting for libraries and information organizations interested in mobile culture and services, ebook workflows and licensing, new media, and professional development programs. Lisa’s recent projects include the Library Journal Virtual Tech Summit: Power to the Patron: From Systems to Services and the Connecticut Library Consortium’s “Trendspotting 2011: eBooks: Collections at the Crossroads” symposium. Lisa is a 2010 Library Journal Mover & Shaker  and 2009 ALA Emerging Leader. She previously managed library systems and digital initiatives at Southern Connecticut State University, and access services and digital collections at the Yale University Library. She writes the Social Eyes column for the Journal of Web Librarianship.

Contact:
Lisa Carlucci Thomas
http://lisacarlucci.com
lisa@lisacarlucci.com
twitter: @lisacarlucci

Director, design think do
http://designthinkdo.org
http://www.facebook.com/designthinkdo
twitter: @designthinkdo

Do you know a library thought leader (maybe you?) who’d be great for our Q&A series? Contact us! We look forward to hearing from you.

We talk a lot about library marketing at Mosio. Being that marketing is one of the most important needs in the success and continuation of a business, we believe it’s the same for libraries. From what we’ve seen in the industry over the past few years, those libraries who are great at marketing are doing well, financially, in their communities, etc. There are always exceptions, but it appears to be the case. I was just speaking with someone in client services and they told me about a recent email conversation they’d had with a Text a Librarian customer.

Her question, which is a great one, was:
“Is there anything that you would like us to emphasize, that you wish everyone would do/get?”

His response:
“I think that the best advice that I can give a library is this: Focus on getting the info on how to text in on your patron’s phone as soon as possible. It doesn’t matter how much training you do, if your patrons don’t know how to text in or even that you provide the service, you won’t get any questions.”

Go Live, Make Updates
Nearly every successful company in the software as a service industry is known for pushing things live, then improving upon them after customers start using them. If you wait until everything is perfect, you’ll always be waiting, putting too much effort in areas that have nothing to do with getting it out into the world. We do our best to make responding to questions as simple as possible, within 1 minute of logging in you can figure out how to respond. It might seem like a hidden business pitch, but it’s really the truth.

Focus the “training” on how to educate and market your Text a Librarian service to patrons and you’ll have a great reason to learn the workings of the system.

I hate to waste great content, so I’ve pasted the rest of his advice typically given to academic libraries, below. Our biggest usage at academic libraries comes from libraries who show students how to text them during orientation, literally by having them pull out their phones and text for instructions.

In his words:
“So at academic institutions we’ve seen a lot of success with libraries that pull all of their students aside during orientation and say, “pull out your phones and text (keyword) to 66746.”  Obviously the library can substitute their own keyword.  When a student does that they get the intro Text for Instructions message to their phone.

This makes sure that when that student has a question on their phone 2 weeks later they don’t have to remember the keyword or the shortcode (66746) because it’s already on their phone.  That’s my 2 cents.”

We are finally back into the swing of things after an incredible conference. We’ve been going to annual and midwinter for the past two years, but took a break from exhibiting to focus on meeting personally with clients and partners, deciding to ship the booth and try a new approach. It was so nice meeting new people, existing clients we’ve only spoken to on the phone and we even got stopped randomly on the street in the French Quarter. The food, the food! Definitely one of our most memorable conferences for the dining experiences alone.

We got the opportunity to show off our new SMS lists functionality, enabling libraries to use text messaging for outbound alerts and announcements and gave away 250 “<3 Libraries” QR Code buttons which everyone seemed to enjoy.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to say hello and to those who have been following up since. We look forward to continue serving our customers and working with those who are soon to be.

Sincerely,

The Mosio / Text a Librarian Team

The full presentation is embedded below.

Reasons to Use Mosio’s Text a Librarian

Mobile Carrier Approved Text Messaging Reference Software
Currently used in over 800 U.S. Public, Academic and Health Science Libraries

Connect With More Patrons On-the-Go

Mosio’s reliable and carrier-certified text messaging solutions for libraries.

Patrons Text Questions. Librarians Type Answers.

Receive and respond to patron text messages on a secure website, backed by a dedicated support team.

Affordable, Efficient, Reliable & Secure.

Pricing plans to fit all libraries with dozens of features to automate, collaborate, archive & report.

Easy to Implement. Easy to Use.

No hardware to buy. Nothing to install. No mobile phone needed.

Buzz and Testimonials

“Text a Librarian is a great way to expand library services and provide mobile patrons answers to simple questions.”
— Tracey Ray, Free Library of Philadelphia

“Answering questions was easy. I just sat down at the computer and when I saw a question come in, I clicked on the big red ‘Answer’ button and started typing.”
— ALA Ambassador at ALA Annual

“Mosio’s Text a Librarian is a great solution for us!”
— Emilie Smart, East Baton Rouge Parish Libraries

“Texting a librarian is no longer a myth thanks to TextaLibrarian.com, which is easy to implement and actually keeps patron phone numbers private.”
— Mirela Roncevic, Library Journal

Advantages & Benefits of Using Mosio

• Easy to implement, simple to use and IT-friendly.
• Free Inbound Text Messages.
• Free Custom Auto Responders.
• Patron privacy is safe. Your data is secure.
• Run reports, gather stats and analyze usage.
• Efficient for one librarian working alone or many working together.
• Text a Librarian is not a hack. Hacks = Problems.
• Competitively-priced. Feature-rich. Always improving.
• We are technology compatible, perfect for Library 2.0.

We Offer Tools to Get You Started

We have training manuals, but you probably won’t need them.
Librarians are usually responding to questions within the first 5 minutes of logging in.
Our patron marketing materials make it easy to promote your service and have a successful launch.

Plus, our new Text For Instructions feature makes it easier than ever to explain how patrons can text you.
Text for Instructions encourages patrons to interact with Text a Librarian the moment they find out about it, maximizing your success in promoting the service.

Contact Us

For more information about how Mosio can connect your library with more patrons on the go, take a tour on our website, sign up for a free webinar, view a Text a Librarian webinar video, see our pricing and plans or contact us to discuss your needs.

Thanks and we look forward to speaking with you.

www.textalibrarian.com
877-MOSIO-99 (667-4699)

In preparation for the upcoming holidays, the Mosio development team has been hard at work improving the Text a Librarian experience. Today we’d like to introduce a simple but helpful new feature: Holiday/One-time Auto Responders.

Everything is explained below as well as in your Text a Librarian microboard (click on New Features in your Quick Links module on the right side).

Text a Librarian Holiday/One-time Auto Responders

Description:

Holiday/One-time Auto Responders enable you to set up auto responders for any days that differ from your normal weekly hours (holidays, special events, etc).

There is a screen shot below showing you the auto responder creator screen; setting them up is incredibly simple. Note: You must be an Admin to add/edit Auto Responders.

Here’s how you set them:

1. Log in to Text a Librarian
2. Click on Auto Responder in the Microboard Administration Module on the right
3. Next click on the New Holiday Auto Responder link
4. From here, you can enter your message, along with the starting date/time, and ending date/time

You’re done! There’s no need to disable any of your regular auto responders since the holiday responder will take priority.

Screen shot…

Let us know if you have any questions.

Best regards and Happy Thanksgiving!

The Text a Librarian Team

————————————————————

Text a Librarian
Text Messaging Reference Simplified
www.textalibrarian.com

This post is from an entry I did a few months back for Attack!, a guerrilla and event marketing services agency I co-founded and where I served as President before co-founding Mosio, but the fundamental ideas are the same: new technologies and gadgets are great for those of us who love the newest shiny things to come out, but implementation and adoption at your organization is tricky at the bleeding edge. At Mosio / Text a Librarian, we see a full spectrum of technology interest/knowledge/experience in libraries, including a lot of librarians who are truly at the bleeding edge of new technologies and social media. I remain on the fence about QR Codes, but I certainly appreciate the enthusiasm. Rather than “Ctrl+F and Replace “Business” with “Library”, the original post is below, unchanged.

Being a marketing and technology fan, I was excited to read Ad Age’s Insights White Paper, Shiny New Things (pdf). Attack! has always been a very technology-friendly company. The mantra for our success is “People, Process and Technology” so I read the white paper on my flight to our LA office, excited to present some ideas I had brewing in my head along with any new nuggets of wisdom I found. In reading about the behavior and general importance of early adopters to brands and marketers, I couldn’t help but think how early adoption, while a passion (and sometimes expensive hobby) for many consumers, is dangerous for businesses. And as David Berkowitz points out, “many agencies will include it [the iPad] in their pitches and plans without thinking whether it’s the best platform for meeting their clients’ objectives.” It’s apparent that the danger of early adoption, for iPads or other shiny objects, can be easily overlooked in the search for innovation. Here’s why:

Shiny new things (SNTs) require employee training.
Regardless of how simple a Shiny New Thing (SNT) is to use, implementing it into your business requires implementation and training with some employees needing morHe than others. Implementing anything new into your business process needs careful thought so the learning curve and mistakes are minimized. Throwing SNTs into the mix increases your chances of confusing and/or frustrating your staff.

The first version is never the best, don’t bet the farm on Beta.
Every early adopter knows that the first version of a new technology is never the best. This means your business is subject to all of the glitches and bugs of the brand new product. It definitely pays to wait it out for the next version if you determine it is something that could prove beneficial to your employees or clients.

Shiny new things can make you lose focus.
I want an iPad. I want one badly. I think they’re a game changer for many industries and as I anticipated their arrival, I started brainstorming all of the possible ways Attack! could use them for our client projects. I’ll admit, I also tried to brainstorm how I could use one at work, ready to enlighten my partners on a revelation in Non Traditional Marketing Agency Management. My “Reasons Partners Should Get iPads” brainstorm notes are below:

There’s nothing wrong with getting an iPad because you want one and we’re headed to the Apple store at lunch to get them, but the mistake in the above thinking that it was rooted in “a solution looking for a problem”: I tried to think of reasons an iPad could be useful rather than thinking of all of the inefficiencies and challenges needing solutions and concluding that the iPad was the perfect tool to solve them. There is great wisdom in knowing the difference.

If you absolutely can’t resist…
There’s nothing wrong with being an early adopter. It’s great (and fun) to be in search of the New New Thing, of new ways of being innovative at your company. Some of the best ideas come out of being open to new technologies and products that can help your business grow. If you can’t resist the temptation to look for new technologies to implement, here are a few things to consider:

Make a list of your challenges and areas of improvement needed at your company.
By defining what it is that you need to improve on, ways your employees can improve process and efficiencies, when SNTs show up, you’ll know instantly where there is a fit. You’ll have a problem looking for a solution. We’ve recently defined several areas in our business where text messaging can improve efficiencies in our Account Management teams and can be sold as add-on services by our Account Executives. The end result will be time saved, archived data in contractor communications and additional revenues to our programs by giving events and street campaigns a longer tail.

Create a new technologies decision phase.
It’s pointless to tell early adopters to wait. Early adopters wait long enough hearing rumors, seeing leaked photos, specs and standing in lines to get their beloved new technologies. Instead, implement an internal timeline and process where you will explore if and how a SNT can help your company. Start with 60 days. Use the time to attend demos, identify pros and cons and ultimately make an informed decision on how you will implement the SNT into your business. You might need more than 60 days, but after the launch of a product, that should be long enough to help you determine if it will be good for business and also to hear about when the next version is coming out. See if you can wait for version 2.0.

Know which employees are technology-friendly and who aren’t.
This will be helpful in the implementation and training phase. Employees who are excited about new technologies can be the ones who help you test them out before you decide they should be implemented and they can help you educate the others who are less comfortable. If over 50% of your employees are not technology-friendly, every new SNT you add will be a struggle, so it’s best to pick your battles. If you have an employee or two helping you test things out in the new technologies decision phase, make sure they understand that you ARE testing out the technology against your needs, not trying to find a place for it to work.

Know when to cut bait.
You should default to “we don’t need this” then see if the solution it creates beats the need to let it go. But, as soon as it becomes apparent (hopefully sooner than later), stop testing the technology and let it go. Your time is valuable, your employees time is valuable, so there’s no point in hanging on to wait and see if something magical will happen.

I’m off to buy my iPad…because they’re awesome and I want one.

Click for Bigger Image of Mosio's Messaging Platform & Text a Librarian on the iPad

Back in January I wrote a blog post titled “The iPad, Tablets and E-Readers in Libraries: Game Changers or are they just Another Mobile Technology?” My decision was that I was uncertain, but suspected they were just another mobile technology. This weekend I got one and I have to say, I love it. I think they can and will be super efficient in various work environments. I’m actually faster at typing on my iPhone. I’m sure as with anything, practice makes perfect, but unless I’m without my laptop, I won’t be typing any more blog posts or writing an proposals on my iPad. If needed, I’ll use my phone to get the thoughts out.

Naturally, my first inclination was to test out our software on the iPad and it works amazingly well. All of the moving text/flashing box notifications work and you can get around quickly if you need to open a new browser window for additional research. Is it as fast as working on a computer? Absolutely not. The iPad fills a strange gap between mobile phone and laptop. My biggest use for my iPad is what I thought it would be: to read blogs and online articles like a book. Only with this “book” i’m able to click on and watch a relevant video as well, very cool. I handed it to my wife to check out and after about 15 minutes, I returned to the room with 3 new games on it, she was playing on of them. I wasn’t too surprised.

I’m happy to say that Mosio’s Text Messaging Platform and Text a Librarian offer great experiences on the iPad, just as our CTO Jay Sachdev, said it would. As we continue to build out more features and solutions for our clients, we’ll continue doing our best to make sure the experience is a good one, regardless of what industry you’re in and which device you’re working on.

From the Steve Krug’s new book, Rocket Surgery Made Easy

We’ve added a simple, but very effective feature we call “Text for Instructions.”

Simply stated, it means your patrons only have to text your keyword to 66746 for instructions on how to use your service.

What happens next?
1. Your patrons get an auto-responder with instructions on saving your keyword and the number 66746 to their contacts for when they need to ask you a question. The instructions include a link to a mobile web page with detailed instructions in case they need them.

It acts like a registration system that gets them started with your service without having to have a pressing question or message on-the-spot. They save your info in their phones for later when they do.

2. The Mosio system assigns the phone number a PatronID associated with your account, so after that all they need to do is text their question to 66746.

That’s it!

Note: The old way of texting your keyword + their message to 66746 still works, no problem. But this way patrons can see your poster (example below) or promotional materials, text for instructions, then save everything in their contacts when they need it later.

If you’re a Mosio / Text a Librarian customer and want more specific information about it, like how you can customize/edit the instructions, it’s listed in the New Features section inside your account.