Google Docs, Just the Right Rx

Jen Maney -- School Library Journal, 10/1/2008

You want to make an impact on the teachers in your area. You want to let them know the library has tools they will love, that will help students with their homework, and that are available 24x7x365, all for free. But teachers are hard to get a hold of. They're busy teaching, after all. And they don't have the free time to come to the library for your classes on library resources. What do you do?

Google Documents has just the right Rx. Google Docs, as it's known by its friends, includes a handy presentation maker. No, it's not PowerPoint. It doesn't result in a file so large you need an extra hard drive and can't email it to your colleagues. Nor does it take hours to figure out. It's quick, easy, and more importantly, the files live online, where other people can see them. You can share the presentations you make with one or two people, or you can publish them for all the world to see. Take a look at this presentation I made:

It's a quick, 5-slide presentation that hits all the high points and gives a couple of screen shots for one of our online databases. I published the show using the super-easy Publish button Google Docs provided. Google gives me the link that I can send out and the code I need to embed it into a webpage, blog, or email newsletter. Remember widgets? This is why we love 'em! By sending teachers the link to this presentation or embedding it an email newsletter, like I've done here, you can get information out to them, and they don't need to schlep over to the library. In two minutes, they have the info they need to start using one of your resources. So, make yourself a Google account and start showing off!

Jen Maney is the Virtual Library Manager for Pima County Public Library in Tucson, Arizona. The motto of the Virtual Library is, "Designing for uncertainty."