Hennepin County Library Adds Texting Option for Patrons

The Hennepin County Library system, including the , is adding a new way for patrons to ask questions.

If you have a mobile device with texting capability, you can text questions to the Hennepin County Library’s “Ask Us” information service effective Sept. 7.

To text a question to the “Ask Us” service, text hclib to 66746 for instructions. The service is free, Hennepin County Library says, but the patron’s standard message and data rates apply.

People can text the Hennepin County Library, but the service is staffed only staffed  Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Messages received outside of those hours will be responded to when staff is back online.

More and more mobile device owners are texting to communicate, according to a Hennepin County Library press release, stating U.S. cell phone users sent and received more than 1 trillion texts in the second half of 2010, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“Texting offers patrons one more way to connect with library staff,” said Hennepin County Library Director Lois Langer Thompson. “It isn’t only for reference questions. Patrons can ask us what they need to ask, whether it is for information, or about their library account, or anything else.  Society has become much more mobile, and communicating with our patrons by texting is a response to that growing trend.”

Patrons who have Hennepin County Library’s mobile app have easier access to Ask Us, the library system says. The informational Ask Us service can also be accessed by patrons via instant message, email, phone and in-person at the library.  

Editor's note: What do you think of the new texting options provided by the Hennepin County Library system? Tell us in comments!