Thing 7

I find the webinars fantastic. I have attended a couple of the minitex webinars already. I was able to communicate with people through the phone and see the demonstrations and presentation on the computer, it is a very needed tool for people who are not able to take time off from their work in order to travel to a conference. It saves time. It is efficient. And is a good way to keep informed and connected with people in far off libraries.

At my work everyone uses instant messaging through Microsoft. If I have a question, or need help with something I am able to see who is signed on, communicate with them and in no time at all I have an answer or a direction to turn to.

Email, well somedays I can do without it (most days really). Often times email is not used efficiently and I find it tiresome to have to scroll down past a whole lot of forwards. I also think people are able to put off making a decision or an action through email, verses an in person conversation, it is just too easy for people to ignore emails or put it on tomorrow's to do list.

I think all the options should be considered, use depends on the people you work and their communication styles. Whichever is used the most, keep.