(Thing #18) Google Docs

I definitely would have appreciated a program like this when I was at Southwestern and Western. I had a lot of group projects between my education and English classes, and it would have been handy, especially as a commuter from Franklin, to be able to do a little more of our work from separate locations. I remember more than one occasion when, in the middle of one class, I'd realize I'd left my disk with the next class' work in my computer at home and I'd have to debate whether to skip out of one class to drive home and get it, or turn my next class' work in a day late. Having my work on a central, web-accessible program could have saved hours of stress, driving, etc.

As for using applications like Google Documents in the library, I could create my PR messages about Thursdays at the Library and the movies from any workstation. I wouldn't be limited to editing only when I'm at my own desk on project time; I could work on them during down time in the lab or at the reference desk.

Patrons could be saved a lot of lost documents as well. I've seen so many patrons lose work because, for whatever reason, they logged out of their session, not realizing that their documents will not be there the next time they log in.

I like that the format is so familiar- similar to Word, Excel, and, though I'm not so familiar with Power Point, I think the Presentation application is fairly similar. I'd feel confident showing this to patrons, knowing they'll be comfortable with it.