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What The Text Is Happening?

Texting, Mobile Communications

and the Academic Library

MACRL Webinar – May 17, 2010

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Mobile Students

3

Mobile Libraries

4

Commercial Text Reference

5

Library Text Reference and Applications

Maui Community College

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Text Ur Lib? Research Study Survey Monkey convenience sample 16 dimensional questions / 5

demographic Cell phone ownership/type/text usage Awareness /Usage of other SMS services Question asking behavior at Criss Preferences in reference

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General FindingsWhat is your age?

Under 19

19-21

22-26

27-40

41-50

51-61

62 or over22-25

19-2127-40

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General Findings

UNO Undergradu-ate student; 54.9%UNO Graduate

student; 25.5%

UNO Faculty; 5.9%UNO Staff; 6.9%

UNO Friends of the Library member; 4.9% Other (please specify); 2.0%

What is your affiliation with the Criss Library and the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO)?

UNO Undergraduate student

UNO Graduate student

UNO Faculty

UNO Staff

UNO Friends of the Library member

Other (please specify)

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Is your cellular phone a "smart phone" such as a BlackBerry or iPhone?

Yes NoNO YES

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ChaCha Google SMS KGB Mosio0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Are you aware of or have you used any of the following SMS text question and answer services?

Not Aware of Service

Aware of Service, but have not Used

Have Used the Service

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On average, how many text messages do you send and receive per month?

1-20

Over 20, less than 100Over 100, less than 500Over 500

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On average, how often do you send or receive text messages?

Daily

Several times per week

Several times per month

Rarely

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Do you use your phone to access the Internet and browse websites?

Yes No

16

Directional (Where something or

someone was lo-cated)

Technological (How to use the comput-

ers, printers, or other equipment)

Reference (How to do research, use a library database,

etc.)

Other (please describe your

question)

0.0%10.0%20.0%30.0%40.0%50.0%60.0%70.0%80.0%90.0%

What kind of question(s) have you asked or assistance request(s) have you made? (Please choose all that apply)

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I would use a text message service to ask ques-tions or request assistance

Text messaging would be a convenient way to communicate with Library staff

The kind of questions I have or assistance I need from Criss Library can be asked and answered via

SMS text messaging

2.00 2.10 2.20 2.30 2.40 2.50 2.60

Please answer the following questions related to using text-messaging to ask questions or request assistance from Criss Library:

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In Person By Telephone Ask-A-Librarian Email service

Instant Messag-ing service

By appointment with a Subject

Specialist Librar-ian

.00

.501.001.502.002.503.003.504.004.505.00

Please rank your preferred methods for asking a question or obtaining assistance from Criss Library, with 1 being the preferred method and 5

being the least preferred method:

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Thank youAudrey DeFrank

Acting Dean of LibrariesUniversity of Nebraska at Omaha

adefrank@unomaha.edu

Linda ParkerSocial Sciences Reference LibrarianDr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss LibraryUniversity of Nebraska at Omaha

lparker@unomaha.edu

For a copy of this presentation:http://library.unomaha.edu

To read conference proceeding paper on this project:http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/46/0c/6b.pdf