RMSLA has gotten a write-up by SLA’s Legal Division in their SLA Chapters series of posts, featuring some of the Rocky Mountain Chapter’s law-focused brilliances plus our member outreach and virtual programming.

• Check out the full post here: “Get to Know an SLA Chapter: Spotlight on Rocky Mountain Chapter”

Thanks to Tracy Maleeff, Legal Division Chair, for the friendly spotlight.

Reported by Joe Kraus, University of Denver, @jokrausdu

Lately, it seems like I have been attending many Internet-based conferences and seminars (sometimes called webinars) or I have been presenting information while using such software. Each of these pieces of technology has advantages and disadvantages.

Some of the variables are:

• Cost;
• Attendee limits;
• Recording features;
• Downloads needed for attendees or presenters;
• Video, audio and whiteboard settings,
• etc.

I do not plan on going into all of the details, since features can change from one day to the next. There are several websites where the features are covered for the main software packages (such as http://www.socialbrite.org/2011/01/19/comparison-top-web-conferencing-services/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_web_conferencing_software). The main software packages that I am familiar with are Adobe Connect, Blackboard Collaborate, Cisco WebEx, and Citrix GotoMeeting.

• SLA has an account for using Citrix GotoMeeting software, and I know many units use that software to provide wider access to presentations. If you are logged into your SLA account, you can learn more about the benefits and features in SLA’s Leadership Resources area. For example, SLA units can hold webinars with up to 500 people using the GotoWebinar service.

• On October 9, 2012, the Rocky Mountain Chapter of SLA held its fall Membership Meeting, and we used Adobe Connect for this meeting to allow members to attend from beyond the Denver area. This was possible because one of the attendees (me) volunteered to provide the laptop and a camera to record the presentation by Marcy Phelps. The University of Denver (where I work) has an account with Adobe Connect, so it was pretty easy for me to set up the software to provide the recording. The recorded segment of the meeting is available here.

• Recently, I also had the good fortune to present at the Library 2.012 Conference, which uses Blackboard Collaborate software. (Note: Blackboard is one of the sponsors of the conference.) This software is geared for the education market, so it may not be available to corporations. The software is pretty easy to use, and it nicely handles presentations with audio and video streaming.

• Many library vendors provide online training sessions. I have attended many WebEx training sessions over the years from Thomson Reuters (see its Web of Knowledge training site), the Chemical Abstracts Service (see its Scifinder training content), and several others. I have never had the opportunity to make a presentation using WebEx software, but I am pretty sure it has a full suite of presentation tools.

Web-based presentation software is still a young industry. I am sure that companies will continue adding in more features to make presentations even more engaging in the future.

From the IT division:

The Award is given to the chapter which has put together an exceptional technology-related program-current, relevant programming which has greatly impacted the chapter membership. The purpose of the award is to encourage chapters to continue striving for the most useful, cutting-edge technology programming. The IT Division provides this award not only to recognize the chapter across the entire association, but also to provide a financial gift of $500 to encourage future programs within the chapter.

RMSLA’s Virtual Lunch webinar series launched its first program in November 2010, featuring former chapter president Scott Brown speaking on the topic of business research in social media. The series has since then included other SLA luminaries, talent from within the RMSLA chapter, and outside experts, covering research niches, technology tools, career themes, and SLA-specific content. Revenue in our first six months covered the cost of a Screencast.com account for securely hosting the edited video files.

Many thanks to RMSLA Director Connie Clem for her leadership in the Virtual Lunch webinar series!