Livening virtual reference with screencasting and screen sharing

As the usage of virtual reference services continues to increase, libraries must consider ways to remedy the lack of ability to visually demonstrate during teaching moments when conducting reference transactions over e‐mail, instant messaging or chat, and text messaging. This paper seeks to address these issues.

The paper provides a brief overview of a selection of free tools for screencasting and screen sharing, including Jing, Screencast‐o‐matic, Screencastle, Screenjelly, Dimdim, Yuuguu, and ShowMyPC.

The paper finds that each free tool has its positive and negative features, but with so many accessible options available, most libraries should be able to find a tool that will work for their needs.

The paper offers insight into the strong availability of free tools, many web‐based, for screencasting and screen sharing, providing an overview of the functionality of each.