A year ago I blogged about an article I had read that looked at different tools that could be used to either create screencasts, or allow screen sharing, in support of virtual reference transactions.
Six months ago a representative from ScreenConnect sent me an email suggesting that tool would be a good addition to the list from that post. I finally got around to taking a look (can you say "swamped"), and have to agree. A full cross-platform remote-control product, ScreenConnect is a self-hosted solution, which may be a turn off for some libraries, as so many services appear to be cloud-hosted, but I guess that's how they keep the price down.
Lots of good documentation on the site, including this page describing how ScreenConnect fits in amongst its competitors. I also like the "Charlie Brown Teacher" component of their screencast. I must admit I didn't actually use the product, but you can download a fully-functioning 30-day free trial if it looks like something you want to explore. Oh, and there's an app for that too.
No surprises in here really, as Lifehacker rounds up the five best screencasting tools as submitted by its readers. My fav, Camtasia Studio, comes out on top all around, offering both a Windows and Mac version. There seem to be a lot of folks who like the free CamStudio though, if the after-poll is to be trusted:
And in related screencasting news, Techsmith, makers of Camtasia Studio, is running a contest to crown the first ScreenChamp, with a first prize of a MacBook Pro. Details here. I thought I'd use this contest as an excuse to update my screencasts on creating persistent URLs, but am concerned about the rule that says the screencast can't contain any 3rd party trademarks, logos, insignia, location signage, photographs, artwork or sculptures without the appropriate permissions... Guess I could seek permission from the database vendors... We'll see. It'd be great if a librarian won the education category, wouldn't it? :-)
I haven't seen a press release or anything, but someone mentioned it on Twitter last night, so I went looking and found that EBSCO has just released an iPhone app. It'll also work on an iPad, but not at full screen.
So how does it work? Log in to one of your EBSCO databasese and scroll alllllll the way down to the bottom. There you should find a new link that says EBSCOHost iPhone/iPod Touch Application:
Click that and enter an email address, and you will receive a link to the App Store (yes, you can search and find it there w/o that link), and also a link to click that will marry the app to your specific institution. Very seamless and straightforward process. The only glitch is that the authentication code seems to work for anyone; I forwarded it to some folks in the States who corroborated that they were now seen as University of Calgary users.
I do notice that part of what that authorization does is include my institution's ezproxy prefix, so I suspect at some point it's still secure enough. Oh, and I do see in the Help file within the app that you'll need to regenerate that code every 9 months. Even w/o a code, the app gives you an option to search as a guest. You're limited to searching GreenFILE at that point.
There's just a basic search box, no option for "advanced search". Limiters such as Full Text, Peer Reviewed, date etc, appear under the Settings tab, but all the way at the bottom of the screen, below the list of databases. All databases appear to be checked by default.
The app helpfully remembers recent searches, and you can save both searches and articles for later viewing. Individual articles can be emailed, with full text, though I don't see an option to select multiple records. PDFs are available within the app. Results can be sorted by date or relevance.
Here are some screenshots for you. Overall it's a pretty nice app - well done EBSCOHost!
This month Educause looks at 7 Things You Should Know About the Modern Learning Commons.
The learning commons, sometimes called an “information commons,” has evolved from a combination library and computer lab into a full-service learning, research, and project space. As a place where students can meet, talk, study, and use “borrowed” equipment, the learning commons brings together the functions of libraries, labs, lounges, and seminar areas in a single community gathering place. The cost of a learning commons can be an obstacle, but for institutions that invest in a sophisticated learning commons, the new and expanded partnerships across disciplines facilitate and promote greater levels of collaboration. The commons invites students to devise their own approaches to their work and to transfer what they learn in one course to the work they do for another.
And as a special bonus, since the beginning of 2011 they're offering an ePub version alongside the PDF. That makes it a lot nicer to look at on an e-reader.
PDF
Epub
A couple of years ago the U of Calgary was among the first to embed an IM chat widget within its OPAC. What I've really wanted to do since then was also embed it within the bibliographic databases, where students spend even more time. I tried a couple of times with ezproxy's search and replace feature, but never got very far.
A couple of weeks ago we had a visit by our EBSCO rep, and on one of the slides he pointed out that they now allow just this feature! You can see some examples of embedded widgets at http://support.epnet.com/eds/widgets.html
I found the instructions on where to stick this code a little lacking, so here's a little more info. Within the EBSCO Admin interface you want to be on the "Viewing Results" tab,
and then scroll down towards the bottom and choose to Modify the Additional Resources section.
Once in there, you want to Add an Item, and then switch to the Custom HTML radio button. Then simply enter your embed code in the HTML box. I found that the optimal dimensions seem to be 175 pixels wide by 280 high, if you've entered 300 in that middle box (click for full size):
And the end result, depending on how many columns you have set for your EBSCO display, will put the chat widget in the lower right corner of your results pages:
I'll probably play with the skin of our Library H3lp widget in order to get that "UofC Library" to appear all on one line, but otherwise it's good to go. Eventually I'll start to explore our other databases again to see if ProQuest or others will allow this.
