New Annotated Webliography: “Virtual Conferencing and Meeting Systems: Resources for Online Connections”

The new issue of C&RL News (February 2015; 76.2) includes a very useful annotated webliography of virtual conference/meeting services that will be of interest to many librarians and as wells as students, faculty, and the general public.
It was compiled and written by:

• John Gottfired
• Laura DeLancey
• Carol Watwood
• Amanda Hardin

All of these people are librarians at Western Kentucky University.
From the Introduction:

Hosting online instruction sessions is, for example, an excellent opportunity for libraries to benefit from new technologies. As the private sector has known for some time, good virtual conferencing systems can save time and money by reducing the need for travel, and they provide surprising flexibility for online training. Facing increasing demands to provide library-related instruction for classes held off-campus and online, we undertook a search for the best products to serve academic needs and budgets.

What follows are the results of our investigation: a small selection of some of the most popular, the most cost-effective, and the most useful systems available. This list is by no means complete, however. It seems that there are new entries to the market almost every day, each with its own strengths. We hope the entries below will help you get started on your own search for the best of the many alternatives.

This guide/webliography is organized into the following categories:

• Comprehensive systems
• Free systems
• Quick and easy meetings
• Also worth considering

Direct to:  “Virtual Conferencing and Meeting Systems: Resources for Online Connections” (via C&RL News)

Filed under: Academic Libraries, Funding, Libraries, New Issue, News, Resources