Google Power User

Staff Development Day

June 4, 2010

Instead of handouts for this Staff Development Day class, everyone who attended received a card with the URL of this blogpost.

Most Google users take advantage of just a small part of what Google offers. Google is changing almost daily, from small refinements to whole new services. Becoming a Google Power User starts with keeping up with Google’s new features and knowing where to go to find what is already available and how to use it.


Exercise #1 - Simple Google Search Features

Visit Google’s page on search features and try out at least one search in each of the seven categories :

Everyday Essentials
Reference Tools

Local Search
Reference Tools

Query Refinements
Search by Number

Choosing Keywords
Trip Planning

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Exercise #2 - Playing with Top Level Domains like .gov, .mil, .edu

Search a major disease like diabetes or arthritis or influenza in Google. Then add site:gov to the search. Compare results. Try adding site:edu instead of site:gov to get results from college and university sites instead of government sites.

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Exercise #3 - Limiting a search to a specific website

To restrict your results to a single website, use site:website

(no space between site: and the website address)

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examples:

site:theoceancountylibrary.org

site:www.co.ocean.nj.us

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The State of NJ’s website doesn’t have the greatest internal search engine. Use Google to search just within the NJ state site: site:nj.gov or site:state.nj.us will both work.

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Try these comparing these sample searches in Google with what you get using the search engine at the State of NJ website:

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underground railroad site:nj.gov
nj town names site:nj.gov

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Compare results with using the search feature on the state website. Does Google with a site limit or the regular NJ state website search get you to better results? Did either find the 15 page pdf guide to NJ and the Underground Railroad or the great database for local NJ town names (Lacey & Forked River)?

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Exercise #4 - Google Book Search

Find information hidden in the books on your library's shelves with Google Book Search.

Compare regular Google and Google Book Search for local history.

Search: "point pleasant" o'neill

What differences do you notice in the results on Eugene O’Neill’s time in Point Pleasant with Google and Google Book Search?

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Other Searching resources

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Google Search cheatsheet

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Google News (Can you spot the archives button?)

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More Google Services to try

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Google Labs

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Google Maps - more than just directions, street level view, Wikipedia and photos linked

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Google Earth - Bird's eye exploration of the world, including the undersea geography

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The below require a Google ID to access all the services

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Google Finance - create personal portfolios

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Google Docs - save documents on the web, invite others to collaborate

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Google Sites - create a public or private invitation only access wiki

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Google Reader - A RSS feed reader to track your favorite blog and website updates