Introduction

Use of instant messaging software for chat reference service. IM software falls into two rough groups: enterprise software and personal software.

Enterprise IM Software

• IBM Lotus Sametime
• Ipswitch Instant Messaging Used by QuestionPoint contract librarians for communication with each other.
• Jabber
• Windows Office Live Communication Server
• Reuters Messaging

Personal IM Software

Also referred to as "commercial IM software." The most popular IM clients are:

• AOL IM
• Google Talk
• MSN Messenger
• Yahoo! Messenger

A number of products allow you to monitor IM accounts from all three IM clients at once:

• Adium
• Meebo
• Miranda IM
• Pidgin
• Trillian

IM in Chat Rooms

Related (somewhat) to the IM clients are those products that allow you to set up chat rooms on your web pages:

• Chatango Used by Oregon State University Libraries. For more libraries using it, see the LibSuccess wiki.
• Gabbly
• Meebo Me This is the service on the Hostos Community College Library web site. For more libraries using it, see the LibSuccess wiki.
• Plugoo See the LibSuccess wiki for libraries using Plugoo.

Further Reading

• Good, Robin. "Web-Based Instant Messengers: A Mini Guide." Available online.
• Houghton, Sarah and Aaron Schmidt. "Web-Based Chat VS. Instant Messaging." Online, July/Aug 2005, 26-30. (Available online in Academic Search Premier)
• Tucker-Raymond, Caleb. \"Web-Based Chat vs. Instant Messaging\" Analyzes an article from Online that weighed in on the software debate in favor of instant messaging (Houghton, Sarah, and Schmidt, Aaron. "Web-Based Chat VS. Instant Messaging." Online, July/Aug 2005, 26-30).
• Rosenberger, Luke. \"War..What Is It Good For?\" Another good blog posting in response to the Houghton/Schmidt article. This one is written by Luke Rosenberger, a librarian who works for Tutor.com.
• Online Reference Although this page on the LibSuccess wiki covers more than just IM reference, it is intended to promote it over expensive web contact center software that many libraries are currently using for chat reference services. One notable section of this page is the list of libraries using IM software for reference.
• Symantec white paper on \"Secure Instant Messaging (PDF)

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