Thing 6: Part 1 - A Preface to Mystery

MCPL is very reliant on email for communication. Adult services has a blog, which I think is a better form of communication for routine information, but Children's services, and other department communicate through email (or so I am led to believe). I cannot fully comment on whether email improves productivity in the work place because I've never worked in a professional/or paraprofessional position without it. It serves as a constant reminder of job to do and issues that come up. I believe that it does increase productivity in some aspects, but hinders in others. A positive is the trail of communication that can be recorded. This provides a much clearer trail than verbal heresay. A negative (for me at least) is the lack of interaction in some work places, and the amount of time people spend answering email. I've worked in places where I felt I had to apologize for asking a person a question in person, rather than over email. At least interoffice forwards (at least in the places I've worked) have dropped tremedously.

Online reference is a really neat idea, although its application is a bit trickier. I used instant messaging throughout high school and college. Since graduating I haven't used instant messaging for personal use, but I have used it in work. Interoffice communication is great when using instant messaging, especially in a work place that encourages silence. For reference IM would work well as a quick resource, but I don't think it would work well for in-depth questions.

I didn't start text messaging until after college, but I love it for its ease of quick communication. It is great for quick questions, which would be useful in quick reference quesitons. I have used it to send emails, which was very easy.