Thing #32 Google Maps

I created a mashup of handy places to take a book and read in the town I work and shared it. I'll probably create on of places my husband and I visited on our honeymoon in Washington state. Maybe I'll scrapbook that for posterity - I always thought for sure I'd remember all the places we went and stayed at but my memory is already getting fuzzy. How disappointing.

I've enjoyed the Google Maps functions when going places I'm unfamiliar with. When I looked up the SELCO site I could even "drive" along and look at sites along the main roads in Rochester. Very impressive. I sometimes also like to use it to armchair travel...see sites I'd like to visit or have visited and just wanted to check out for fun.

I wish there was a Google Maps mashup of movie locations used. Then maybe you could travel and stop and recognize sites used in your favorite movies. That'd be fun.

I really couldn't think of a way that it'd really be that useful for our library.

Thing #29 Google Tools

I chose to use:

Google Alerts (Because hey, I already use a zillion of their tools.) I set up some alert searches for:

• "Library Use Economy"
• "Kee Town & Country Centre" (a nonprofit board I am on)
• "Albert Lea Public Library" (where I work)
• My name

Basically, I thought it'd be a great way to stay on top of news and possible references to these topics in the news. Very happy to have added this to my Google tool repertoire.

I worked with Google Sites for a while. Am actually going to suggest my nonprofit group use this for our website because of the functionality it offers - multiple people can cooperatively edit and update. Very nice features. It is not as user friendly as it could be, however, as I had some frustration manipulating the navigation bar and adding pages. I've worked with programs that were more intuitive to the user. This isn't one of them. A bit clunky but I am hopeful that Google will improve it as time goes on since many of their other apps are so slick.

I am also a user of Google Health. I basically use it to enter in general health stats so that I have an easy reference for looking up the last time I had a shot or what my blood pressure has been, that sort of thing, since none of my health care providers have the sharing function that is offered with some providers.

I also use Google Calender...not extensively but I think I'll be using it more since you can put the calender on your Google Site. (How handy.) And share it.