Similar to many peer-to-peer services, LionShare offers users chat functions to communicate and collaborate in real-time with others within the network. With the LionShare Chat function, the user can setup a chat room with other faculty and students. These names can be pulled from a “Buddy List”, or list of other LionShare users set by the user. One-to-one instant messaging and group chat can be used as a tool to discuss shared resources with other members of a class or research group or with an instructor. Faculty members can set up a chat group to facilitate learning in their courses by allowing communication with students and among students at any time. Users must be authenticated with the institutional identity service to have access to these tools.