Monday, June 15, 2009

Thing 7 - Google

I already had an igoogle and was using this a little but not to the fullest extent that I could.
I am a librarian for several elementary schools and also work with other librarians in my district. This year we used google documents a little but we had difficulties sometimes opening them up. It could be because we didn't use the email address for sharing. Today I created a document for computer usage at one of my campuses in google documents and then shared it with a fellow elementary librarian in my district. We have also used this for other documents like "Reading Off Your Fine" and Bluebonnet ideas that we have. This makes it very simple to share and we can even make it where we could change the documents to make it a work in progress between the two of us.

I also created a google calendar. Again, I travel campuses...this year it has been three different campuses but next year will only be two campuses! YEAH!! For right now my calendar is very boring with mainly personal stuff but a few school / library items. I can see how this tool can be very valuable to my group of librarians. Most of us travel and have many things on our agenda and it is hard to keep up with. Using the calendar and sharing it with our group will make it much easier to keep up with each other and what we are doing. What is also cool is you can only allow those you share this with to only view certain items....like school not personal.

I also put a couple of pictures in the Picasa Web Album but I'm not sure if others can view them. I'm still going to work on that. Again, this is another great way to share what is going on from campus to campus with others. It would be a great way to share pictures when putting together a district powerpoint or some other type of document or brochure.

I can see how Google will play a much larger role next year with me professionally. I am sure with our growing number of librarians in the district we can use this format to share as well as stay in touch with what each other is doing. Using new formats is just a matter of practice and trial and error. That is one reason why practicing with these different formats and ideas over the summer is a good way to start. At least for me, I don't have all the pressures of the school year and so my frustration level is low and I am enjoying experimenting!

5 comments:

  1. I like the idea of using the calendar as a way of communication with your other librarians. I need a way to communicate with the teachers on my campus (more exciting than email). Maybe I can try this with my faculty. Thanks for the post.
    Lisa

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  2. Amy I saw your message about the calendar I will try it out soon. I think it is a good idea and will definately help this year now that it is three of us to coordinate things.

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  3. I agree the calendar is a great idea. AS soon as I get a WISD email, I will ask you to invite me!

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  4. As I read your idea about the calendar, I wondered if that could be a way for me to post an electronic version of my calendar for teachers to sign up for collaborative lessons.

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  5. I am a new librarian and a little frightened about the scheduling bit. I think I will use this google calendar, as per you advice. Thank you so much for the ideas.

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