I’m exploring different options to let students schedule research appointments with reference librarians. I use WhenIsGood.net quite a bit, which sets up possible times for a meeting and lets the attendees chime in on their availability. But I want something that will let individuals choose specific times for their own appointments, so I started looking around for something to fit the bill. Here are some options I started looking at (not all of them fit the scheduling category, however).
http://youcanbook.me: WhenIsGood’s little sister. Lets you link your google calendar to a scheduling tool to book appointments. Does exactly what I want, but doesn’t work with our library’s non-@gmail google account. I don’t want to have to create another google account just for this tool.
https://join.me: Not a scheduling tool, but an online screen-sharing/conferencing tool that has been advertised like crazy on train billboards during my daily commute. Looks interesting.
http://www.doodle.com: Seems to do the same thing as WhenIsGood, to schedule a meeting with several people.
http://www.tungle.me: Scheduling tool that syncs with multiple types of calendering software. Doesn’t seem to fit my need for multiple, individual appointment bookings.
http://www.timebridge.com: Another scheduling tool to gather several people during one time. Also boasts the ability to ‘make meetings great” somehow.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20000734-248.html: Article about Google Calendar option to reschedule meetings with participants if calendars are shared. Doesn’t allow participant input or feedback to choose times, though.
And of course, http://whenisgood.net
So, out of these options, it looks like YouCanBookMe is the only one that does what I need. I guess I’ll have to create a new google calendar account to match up with it. Hopefully not!
