We hear many anecdotes and read articles about how Google has changed the way everyone does research today. Reference librarians are faced with the challenge of assisting users who routinely use Google in lieu of the library’s OPAC and other resources. These librarians struggle with trying to educate users on evaluating information found on the web and also with how to incorporate Google into the research process without it becoming the only source users choose. Google Scholar and Google Book Search have had a dramatic impact on the research process and many librarians are finding these tools essential for their own personal research, too.
Reference and public service librarians, however, are not the only ones using Google on a regular basis. Google has become an essential tool for catalogers, as well. The strength of Google’s search engine and page ranking algorithm makes it easy for technical services librarians to locate many sources of information related to cataloging, metadata, procedures and policies, and workflows.
I’ve designed a survey to discover other ways in which catalogers use Google as a tool in their day-to-day work. If you are interested in completing the survey, it can be found here:
