Screencasting for Virtual Reference

I've posted about Screenjelly.com before, and I just had the chance to use it for an email reference questions. Screenjelly.com is a super low-end screencasting website that allows you to quickly record 3 minutes of screen activity. It is not fancy or editable, but is great for a quick and dirty how-to screencast. I created this one to show a student how to access JSTOR and Project Muse to find articles. Her email said she was using "databases" but only finding books, so it sounded to me like she was confusing the catalog with the databases. This quick video helped demonstrate where she was going wrong. You do have to create an account to grab a link for the video, but it's free and easy.

Screenjelly

Screenjelly is screencasting software that does not require any download. You simply go to the website (http://www.screenjelly.com), click the Record button, and you will have 3 minutes to record the action on your screen with voice. This could be good for very short, informal demonstrations because the recording will include you having to switch windows away from and back to the Screenjelly website. But a library is giving a poster session at ALA on how they use it to quickly and visually answer chat and email reference questions, which sounds like a great idea. Instead of describing to students the steps for ILL, for example, you could quickly record the steps on your screen and send the video. Check out the site and watch the Demo.