Our entire library system has email setup through our library headquarters. We use it mainly to talk about upcoming programs at the headquarters, and library related events happening around the region or the state. One of my biggest problems is trying NOT to check it while at home! I have too much other stuff going on to be checking and responding to email when I'm not at work. I figure, if it's an emergency or something important my bosses/supervisors have my phone number so they can contact me that way if they need to.
As far as reference goes with the 2.0 technology, the instant messaging tool seems interesting. You could have a real time talk with a librarian and get some good ideas about how to start searching for a topic you need to write a paper about. At the same time you could ask the librarian where to find the material you need before you get to the library to save time, if you are in a hurry. Email and SMS have to have people present for them to have fast communication time, when you are instant messaging, someone has to be there when you are messaging, in order for it to work anyway. Emails an SMS's can be retrieved and responded to when the receiver has time to do so.
SMS seems to be the 2.0 tool that I know the least about. I have recently been using text messaging to keep tabs on people, as I just got a new cell phone. It's an interesting tool of technology, but it sure takes me a lot longer to get a message out, rather if I called someone or sent someone an email. I see teens in the library using SMS sometimes, and they usually don't even have to look at the keypad to send a message, they just know where all of the letters are by memory, just as if they were using a standard keyboard on a computer.
I attended the OPAL web conference Virtual Worlds, Interactive Games, and Libraries. It seemed pretty interesting, they mainly focused on Second Life, an online virtual interactive game. They also mentioned a Teen Second Life, that only Teens can use, whereas the only way an adult can attend is if it is for research opportunities, and they even have to go thru a background check. This could make for a good interactive and learning opportunity for the teens to get together and discuss things even if they are thousands of miles apart. There are even different Islands in the community, with each Island having its own unique and different purpose. This could be a great way to get teens into the library, and expose them to the different ways libraries are changing, and how we are incorporating new and different forms of technology into the library all the time.
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