CiL: Virtual Reference Endless possibilities

Speakers: Dan Sich (U. of Western Ontario) and Derik Badman (Temple)

Dan covered: Meebo, MeeboMe, Skype, Unyte, related Stats and Issues (stuff he implemented at U. of Waterloo)

Stuff of note:
Non Life Threatening issues:
Transcripts from MeeboMe: optional but retrieval is klunky
If patron doesn't stand still (leaves page)--appear as multiple patrons, difficult to communicate.
Librarians didn't miss the old chat software! Found 70% of questions can via Meebo.

Alternatives to Meebo:
hab.la (that's the URL)
Takes more coding to implement.
Collapses on a page, then can expand the window
Simulates co-browse feature in a way--loads your page within a Habla proxy.
Problem: can only display 5 habla widgets simultaneously :(

LibraryH3lp
Uses js, open source
will be fee based in future
customizable windows/widgets

Others: pidgin, jabber, plugoo

Unyte--plugin for Skype
one-way screen sharing (patron sees a "movie" of what's on your screen)
dependent on web speed
no patron plugin/install (makes it unique)

Had very low skype and unyte numbers:
-Skype not on public workstations
-Students prefer chat

Dan's blog and talk

Derik Badman: Virtual Reading Rooms

Journals: Bring back journal browsing! Not (generally) pleasant online.
Faculty member wanted to have a reading room for their discipline--but what about a virtual space?
Took a poll from faculty to see what was most popular.
RSS was the best way to get the info out--collected the feeds.
Took the feeds and threw into Yahoo pipes to get a single feed: can throw into google reader.
But, for faculty, others who are not using RSS much you can:
feed through feed burner to email alert
Grazr: makes a browsable RSS reader that you can post to a website (no subscribing needed)
OPML (import into RSS feeds...comes out as separate feeds and can pick and choose

Successes:
On a personal professional level: library literature feed is great (and others have subscribed)
Use to foster dialog with colleagues

Problems:
Lots of work! Time to collect, find RSS, mashup, etc.

Future:
Mix and match journal titles and have an instant RSS feed
Availability (authentication for outside users)
Doesn't scale--too much work to do a lot of this
Refaware--similar service based on keyword search...lose serendipity of browsing
TicTocs service from JISC--gathering RSS feeds from publishers avail. in a database