walking paper: IM as answering machine or “the not so instant message”

In the morning there are generally a few messages from younger patrons saying something like, its 10:30 what are you still doing at the library!? and then oh when they get the away message sent to then automatically. But there are a number of gems to be found among these other IMs*. Kids are starting to leave questions. Some ask for a reply, some just pose the question, perhaps assuming we’ll get back to them when we can, and a few have left email addresses. While we’re not getting 10 questions per night when the library is closed, or even five, it is still more than the number of emails we get from teens. This is, of course because IM is their preferred method of communication.