#17 Google Docs

I was so excited when I read this Learn & Play activity because I’ve actually done this one before Learn & Play. In my Academic Libraries class, each member of the class was assigned an academic library and we developed a spreadsheet in Google Docs to compare and contrast our libraries with each others. With this information, we were able to collaborate and provide information to each to use, without a million documents clogging our email and wondering which version was the most updated. Our professor didn’t have to be the one to collect everything and repost it back out. In this sense it worked really well. However, since we had about 20 in the class, the spreadsheet grew rather large, sometimes resulting in lags in updating and saving information. Also, at peak times, being in the document was agonizingly slow, even with broadband and you had to make sure you didn't delete someone else who was editing at the same time.

In my day to day work, I’m not really sure how Google Docs would benefit me since I’m non-exempt and there is little I actually do collaboratively. I can see project managers and project leads perhaps using this technology to gather information for a group, but everyone in that group should have access to the same files.

In a broader sense, incorporating these tools at libraries is a little beyond my scope. I guess you could use them for collaborative learning environments, such as we did for the Academic Libraries class, especially those involving patrons. My imagination is not working overtime today. For now, I’ll keep on mulling it over. I’m sure my fellow Learn & Play participants can spark some conversation on this; I’ll have to review their blogs.