Instant Messaging

I have been using instant messaging for a couple of years now. Before I started working at CCPL, I worked for a publishing company that was located in a large warehouse. They set us up with IM so that we could save time (and make more $$ for them) by not walking all over the building for simple questions. All we had to do was IM whoever we needed to talk to. It was convenient to say the least.

In the laid back world of the public library I have not found much use for IM. Now that I am working at a branch, all I have to do is take a couple of steps over to the next cube, or just yell out some one's name. I like the personal touch of actually speaking to a person, as opposed to being even more trapped at a computer. With my friends, outside of the library world, I have found that IM is rather enjoyable. Most of us have Gmail which offers IM service. So, if I see that someone is online, I'll drop a little note, just for fun.

A touching story about IM: A year ago my boyfriend, Kris, went to China for a month. Neither of us could afford the phone calls, so I didn't speak to him the whole time he was there. I simply had to wait (not very patiently) for him to find an Internet provider so he could send me an email about his adventures. One afternoon about three weeks into his trip, I was checking for an email from him and saw that the green light beside his name was on (this is how you know a person is online with Gmail). I clicked on his name and hopefully sent a message asking if he was actually there. A few seconds later I received a response. This was the closest I could get to talking to him, and let me tell you I was ecstatic! He was half a world away and we had a free conversation, just like he was across town.

So, that is my experience with IM. I love it. It is convenient, useful and fun.

Until next time...
j.