Okay, on to Thing 3…
I’ve been familiar with IM for awhile now but I don’t use it much outside of work-related stuff. I’m on the computer all the time at home but I just don’t use IM to communicate with friends much. Sometimes my family will use iChat to video chat with each other, but that’s about it.
At work, I try to login to my IM account regularly. A few people in the library know my screen name (try me at “kongtemplation” from now on) and we’ve used IM to chat about projects. Using meebo rooms or group chats is a nice way to have a quick virtual meeting with colleagues. Of course, IM at work can quickly get out of hand. Many years ago, I interned (i.e., worked for free!) at a film production company and the person I worked for was on IM the entire time she was in the office. And I don’t mean just monitoring it. She was typing away every minute she was at work. Mostly with other film industry types…lots of laughter, tears, gasps…basically lots of gossip! That “ding” sound got to be extremely annoying!
I think providing IM reference service is a no-brainer. It’s easy to set up and easy to use (for both librarians and patrons). It’s just another way for people to contact us. I’m excited that we’re doing IM ref now. Anyone can go to ask.skokielibrary.info and chat with us. My question now is…video chat reference anyone? 
Btw, here’s another site called No Slang that I’ve used to decipher mind-boggling acronyms.