Delivering library instruction with screencast software: a Jing is worth a thousand words!

It can be a challenge meeting the different learning styles of your library clients, who may be based at different campus locations, and who, at various times, may be on clinical placement at a health facility anywhere from Broken Hill to the Gold Coast. This is exactly the situation faced by the Health and Human Sciences Liaison Librarian team at Southern Cross University (SCU) in Northern NSW/Southern Queensland. This presentation describes our use of the screencast software, Jing, to deliver short, focused, online training aimed at helping clients make the most of the information resources the library provides, whether they’re on campus, on placement, or studying online. Jing allows you to record a video, with audio, of your onscreen demonstration, training or presentation, which your clients can watch at their time of need – ‘just-in-time’ training. The Health and Human Sciences team has produced three Jing clips tailored to specific assessments, and two relating to particular tasks that the students were finding difficult to master. Links to the clips were then placed in Blackboard unit sites (the SCU Learning Management System) along with Blackboard announcements/emails notifying students the clips were available. Clips can also be prepared quickly to respond to individual queries from external students, providing that personal touch. It has allowed the team to provide individualised, personal assistance to client queries without having to be physically present. Initial feedback indicates that students have responded well to the use of these clips, and Liaison Librarians for all SCU Schools are developing clips for use in a range of discipline areas. Further evaluation needs to be carried out to determine the extent of use by students, and student satisfaction, with this form of training.