Thing 29. Google Tools

I set up a couple of Google alerts and I have to say that it was incredibly easy. I am not sure how useful it would be for the library as a whole but it would be useful for individuals trying to keep up on a specific topic. It would be great for students doing large projects where they would have an extended period of time for research. It may also be useful for an institution’s archives. They would be able to keep track of any information about them that is put out on the web. I thought that the article about using Google alerts to check for plagiarism was very interesting. What a creative way to use this tool.

Thing 28. Customized Home Pages

I am using MyYahoo for my customized homepage. I had already set up My Yahoo page during the last round of 23 things. The first time I set up the page I added widgets that were more fun rather than useful. Because of this I have not used the page that often. This time around I deleted those things that I very rarely look at and added widgets for Facebook, Flickr, and various news sources that I enjoy. I also changed the layout to make more sense. Overall, I feel that My Yahoo is very easy to use and very easily altered.