Method 3

I have never heard of Zoho before, so I was interested to learn more about what this is.  From what I can tell by the little I actually played around with it, Zoho seems like it would be more useful to something business oriented.  One of the features I did like about Zoho was that the upgrades happened continuously so there was never a need to download the newest version.

Google Docs is definitely something I have heard of before and am considering trying in the future.  Several times I need to share some sort of something with more that one colleague, and I am usually asking for advice on editing or revising whatever it is I have sent them.  This does get cumbersome when multiple people are making changes to an original document and sending them back to you.  Google Docs seems like it would take away some of that madness.  I'm especially interested in Google Spreadsheets since I keep my library budget on a spreadsheet in Excel and often want to check my numbers against what the powers that be say I should have.  I like the ease of being able to send my spreadsheet to someone for them to review and send back to me.  Also, many times I have discrepancies in my budget because books that I have ordered are not shipped for various reasons, so the total for that particular PO changes.  If the secretary has access so easily to my spreadsheet, she can make these changes quickly and keep my budget current and correct.

Computing in the "cloud" - what a concept.  At first, I could actually see myself taking on this adventure, but after further research, I am hesitant to go completely online with everything.  I have stored photos online for many years, and love the ease of online photo storage, of being able to quickly share a photo album with family and friends halfway across the country with the click of the mouse.  One of the concerns I have, which was mentioned in the suggested blog postings, was about privacy issues.  While I do use online banking and have for years, it is a little bit of a concern to trust all my personal documents to something like Google.  I feel like my bank offers security measures, as it should, that keep my information safe.  Since Google is a free service, are they liable should any of my personal information somehow become accessible to anyone?  This is a tad bit scary and means I need to give it more consideration.  I can envision only storing things in the "cloud" that are not personal, but then I would be creating another situation where I would have to remember where I "put" something, and I already struggle with that on a daily basis.

One of the ways I clearly see using the "cloud" in the library is by putting student produced video book talks on the Internet and making them accessible through QR codes to every student in the school.  I have actually already started this ball rolling and hope to have an assortment of these book talks for students' and parents' viewing pleasure at the next Literacy Night.  I plan to have these posted all around the school and will encourage parents with smart phones to download a QR reader before hand so they can benefit from these book talks.