It was years ago I read about SMS enabled vending machines in Asia. Now Domino’s is experimenting with pizza via SMS in the UK. Frankly, I’m surprised it has taken them this long. Phone technology usually travels to the US from Asia, Scandinavia, and then the UK, so I suppose we might see texting become even more popular and interesting here.
There are only a few libraries experimenting with services via SMS, two of which are in the US.
I still think Michael Casey’s solution to send text messages without needing anything beyond your current ILS (and a free website) is spot on, though of course I wish we didn’t have to piece together workarounds.
2 Comments
Aaron, you link to the SMS reference page, but don’t sleep on Cayahoga County’s holds + renewals notification service.
http://baldgeek.wordpress.com/2007/04/18/cuyahoga-county-site-reinventing-the-library-in-the-internet-era/
Another thing I’d love to have is ‘your computer is ready’-type notifications.
okay, I don’t actually know if ‘books and programs’ is holds/renewal notifications or not. foot->mouth. But clearly, Michael is right that there are a broad range of applications of SMS.