Google Labs

Okay, call me silly, but my favorite of all the Google Labs was Google Sets.

I spent at least an hour playing with it at home after work. Yes, I know we can do this on work time, but I knew after I input "Up" "Down" "Strange" "Charm" and got "gluon" as part of my extended set I was in big, big trouble. I admit, it didn't do so well on some things, (like breeds of toy dogs) but on others, like Nebulae - it was stellar.

Google Notebook also looked useful. I like the idea of keeping information together, in one handy little online packet. It could be quite useful when I am doing research for one of my stories, or for a work project - like researching prices for shopping baskets. Or a patron researching, say, hot water heaters.

Yes, I did take David's advice and tried out Google Trends. There is nothing like graphs to make my heart beat faster. Did you know the two languages that central air is most searched for are English and Polish? Me either. I could see this as a very handy tool for students, or the perpetually curious.

Even though it's done better elsewhere (probably why it didn't become a finished product) was the Music Trend search. I always like to know what people in Canada and the UK are listening too, and I even had to go track down a song or two, even though I think this application is a little dated.

All these things could be useful to patrons as well. It's too bad that the library doesn't offer a version of Learning 2.0 for patrons.