[WEB4LIB] RE: Free Virtual Reference Software

[Houghton, Sarah]

Hi all,

We use Trillian (a free IM aggregator) to receive chat questions from AOL, MSN, and Yahoo chat clients.  It works well, and so far we're very happy with it.  While AOL still has the bulk of the IM market, it doesn't have all of it by any means.  We felt it was important to allow users to come in using a variety of chat clients--whatever they already have installed.  We wouldn't want them to have to install a particular chat client just to match up with what we, at the library, have chosen to use.

Sarah Houghton
e-Services Librarian
Marin County Free Library
San Rafael, California

-----Original Message-----
From: Sloan, Bernie [mailto:bernies at uillinois.edu]
Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2005 12:43 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [WEB4LIB] RE: Free Virtual Reference Software


You might want to take a look at the RAKIM software, although I haven't
heard much about it recently. 

There are also a number of libraries that use freely available IM
software to do virtual reference. I'm sure some of them will chime in in
response to your question.

Here's a description from the RAKIM FAQ:

RAKIM is a PHP/SQL-based chat service, designed specifically with
libraries in mind.

Here is an overview of some of its features:

* completely browser-based; 
* multiple simultaneous librarians; 
* each librarian can answer multiple, simultaneous patrons; 
* patron referral to another librarian; 
* invite another librarian (and stay in chat); 
* librarian-to-librarian chat; 
* personal bookmarks and prepared messages; 
* shared bookmarks and messages; 
* "push" URLs to patron; 
* transcripts; 
* others.....
 
The FAQ is available through:

http://tinyurl.com/3w8td 

Bernie Sloan

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Hongbin Liu
Sent: Friday, February 04, 2005 4:04 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [WEB4LIB] Free Virtual Reference Software

Greetings, 

Can anybody recommend some free virtual reference (or chat reference)
software for an academic library? 

Thanks, 
Hongbin Liu
University of New Orleans Library








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