Play Week - Google Applications - Amazing Options!!!

Okay - I admit it - my professional vanity got the better of me and I looked myself up on Google Scholar - pitiful! Just a few quick observations. First of all, the suggested search strategy for an author does not work well. When I put in the suggested "C. Baird" (initial and last name in quotes) - I did not quickly find any of my publications listed. However, when I returned and listed Constance Baird (no quotes) - four of my publications were on the front page.

Google Scholar does have nice features which I'll highlight using one of my own citations:

Progressive partnering: Expanding student and faculty access to information services - all 4 versions »LL Lillard, P Wilson, CM Baird - The Eleventh Off-Campus Library Services Conference …, 2004 - haworthpress.com... Expanding Student and Faculty Access to Information Services Linda L. LillardPat Wilson Constance M. Baird University of Kentucky SUMMARY. ... Cited by 1 - Related Articles - Web Search

First of all, if applicable, the publication is listed in different versions ("all 4 versions" above). Here, the above article appeared in conference proceedings, as a book chapter as well as a journal article. Also, under "Cited by 1" - you can identify other papers that cited articles in the group. I was pleased to see that a colleague had cited the article in a new publication on library instruction to distance learning students. Also, when you click on the "versions" or "cited" feature - it takes you directly to the electronic version of the article if you are affiliated with a library. Finally, when I clicked on "Web Search" - I found that we had been included in a published bibliography from the University of Victoria - cool!

This is still a growing resource but has unique features that are valuable to the researches/scholar.

I also used Google Earth's "ruler" feature and was able to accurately chart the exact mileage on my nightly "walking trail" - 2.2 miles. Who says technology can't contribute to a healthy lifestyle??? And, as do many of my Blue 2.0 colleagues - I regularly use G-chat with Gmail.

The only really frustrating thing about this segment was, as usual, never enough time for all of the interesting options - even within Google Applications!