Thing 18 & 19: Online Applications & Tools

I am very thankful for the emergence of free software which offers everyone the ability to use work processing tools without the need to download/purchase Microsoft Office. I am only familiar with open source tools like the Open Office suite that the library uses; but I always tout it's uses and let patrons know that they can download the software for free and use the program just like Microsoft and even save their documents in the form of "word documents."

I explored Google's Google Docs and Spreadsheets for the second part of this "Thing." Since I already have a Google account I felt that this would probably be the most useful. I like that you can store all your paperwork in your email (kind of like our DeskNow) and don't need to use flash drives to carry your information from computer to computer. I think libraries can use this technology to help patrons save their work. Many times I have seen our customers lose their work because the computer failed to save the document to their floppy or flash drive or the saving process was completed incorrectly. Here to, one no longer needs to worry about losing said flash drive or floppy disk, the document is available as long as they have access to a computer. The only drawback I see to this kind of technology is without a backup, should the email system not be available, one would not be able to access their work.