Not surprising that IM use follows generational lines, according to the Pew Report, with Trailing Baby Boomers among those who use IM least. Perhaps the reason has something to do with the innate peculiarity of IM communication. Highly exposed, yet oddly disembodied, it can be urgent, intimate, formulaic, disingenuous in configurations not attainable by traditional communication.
Reliance on IM for anything more than the most cursory communication poses challenges for libraries. It may be handy and well appreciated for navigational guidance and light information regarding programs and services, but for interaction with customers regarding reference questions, there are core issues of privacy to consider. Online there is always the prospect of third party presence to information transactions, and policies of chat record deletion lose efficacy.
Libraries soliciting IM interaction with the public should do so with gravity, caution and clearly worded caveats in order to avoid misleading those driven more strongly by curiosity than circumspection.
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