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SMS A lerts@VU omg lol. Lesley Nelson Library Systems Coordinator Victoria University Lesley.Nelson@vu.edu.au. III’s SMS Alerts product. Patrons must opt in Patrons still receive email/print circ notices 160 character limit. Types of alerts: Courtesy Hold Pickup
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SMS Alerts@VU omglol Lesley Nelson Library Systems Coordinator Victoria University Lesley.Nelson@vu.edu.au
III’s SMS Alerts product • Patrons must opt in • Patrons still receive email/print circ notices • 160 character limit
Types of alerts: • Courtesy • Hold Pickup • Hourly Overdue • Overdue • Recall • Sent when the corresponding notice is sent, except for hold pickup (sent when item checked in) • Overdue alerts sent when overdue notices are sent, not when item becomes overdue
The Library specifies • Text of alerts • Text of opt in confirmation message • Hours that alerts are sent
Sending the messages • The Library must set up an account with OpenMarket to send the alerts • Accounts can be pre-pay or post-pay • Cost is roughly A$0.09 per SMS • OpenMarket can provide a free test account
Implementation at VU : a history • Nov 2011: Paid for 6 month trial • Dec 2011: Upgrade to Release 2011 and new server required so delayed to midyear 2012 • July 2012: More delays due to installation issues at another Australian library • Feb 2013: SMS Alerts finally installed! • Mar 2013: Tested but not receiving alerts • May 2013: Issue resolved by setting up delivery report URL. At last able to receive alerts! • June 2013: III kindly agreed to extend our original 6 month trial period to 12 months from August 2013 to August 2014
Implementation at last • June-July 2013: Library staff test service in staging WebPAC • 24 July 2013: We go live! Big promotion effort • signage • global emails • info on library home page
Opt in confirmation Welcome to the VU Library SMS Alerts service. We’ll send you a text when you have holds to pick up, loans that are nearly due or overdue loans. DO NOT REPLY • Sender/From display • Showed as 12345678. Can ask III to customise • Can be phone number up to 16 digits or text up to 11 characters • Ours is VU Library
Our text messages The item you requested is available for pickup at VU Library. DO NOT REPLY. For more info go to: http://library.vu.edu.au/patroninfoor call 9919 4266 Hold Pickup This is a reminder that your VU Library loan is due back soon. DO NOT REPLY. For more info go to: http://library.vu.edu.au/patroninfoor call 9919 4266 Courtesy Overdue/ Hourly overdue Your VU Library loan is overdue. DO NOT REPLY. For more info go to: http://library.vu.edu.au/patroninfoor call 9919 4266
Message delivery statistics • 7176 messages sent between 24 July and 11 November 2013 • 6980 delivered (failure rate 2.73%) • Roughly 65 message sent per day, 455per week
Lessons Learnt and Future Plans • More promotion needed to increase opt in rates, particularly for TAFE students and undergraduates. More promotion planned for start of semester 1 2014 • If pre-paying make sure you don’t run out of credits! • Will review before trial expires in August 2014 • May poll our patrons to see if they want the service to continue