TCA Letters to the Editor
Press Release
Title: Mosio's Text a Librarian Service
Date: February 2009
Organization: Mosio / Text a Librarian
Letter:
Dear Editor-
I'm writing in response to a review of Mosio's Text a Librarian service by Joseph Murphy (Volume 10, Number 3, January 2009, pp. 52-54(3)). Mr. Murphy's review was conducted in October on a limited version prototype of the service while in development. His review is very misleading as to the true functionality of the system being currently utilized in libraries.
Rather than list a point-by-point rebuttal of the article's inaccuracies, I would like to address 2 of the most important elements about Text Messaging Reference he fails to properly cover: 1) Patron Privacy
2) User (librarian) Controls
*Patron Privacy*
Internally at Mosio, we believe if you can see a patron's phone number, other people can as well. The use of phones (iPhone, BlackBerry, etc) or SMS-to-IM (AIM) Hacks for reference both expose and openly store patron phone numbers, creating risk for patrons and libraries. Text a Librarian removes that risk by giving each patron a random, unique ID. By doing so, patron privacy is ensured while storing past requests in a searchable knowledge database so patrons can be better served in the future.
*User (Librarian) Controls*
We say "Patrons text, librarians type." While the numbers are growing, the fact remains that many librarians do not text and are not comfortable using a mobile device to answer reference questions. Mosio's system gives librarians control of how they are notified (via email, IM, Web or SMS) about incoming questions. If a librarian has an iPhone and wants to be mobile, away from the reference desk while answering patron questions, they have the flexibility to do so with Mosio's service, but it is not required.
We've spoken to hundreds of reference librarians (over 200 live demos of the service were conducted at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Denver) and have found Patron Privacy and enabling individual librarians to interact with the system however they're most comfortable are two of their primary concerns. We are being told that our service not only covers those two elements, but also offers substantial reporting, collaborative functions and tools for both training and patron marketing/education.
We invite anyone interested in implementing SMS Reference to contact us for a demo of our system as it is currently being used in libraries. We're confident you'll find it vastly different from the limited version upon which Murphy's review is based.
Feedback on how to improve the service to make it better for both patrons and librarians is always welcome.
Thank you for your time,
Noel Chandler
CEO, Mosio
http://www.textalibrarian.com
