Just in time for the Labor Day holiday Writely is taking new users. Google purchased the web-based word processor earlier this year and had put new registrations on hold. I'll be testing the functionality of Writely from a hotel room this weekend and will see how it does with that level of connectivity. The only question is how soon Google Apps for Domains will include Google Spreadsheet, Writely and a solid group-oriented file storage system.

Google today released Google Apps for Domains. The program brings the hosted Gmail solution of the last few months out of beta and into general availability.

The service bundles Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk and Google page creator. According to the company's website a premium service will be rolled out in the future. News reports suggest this service may include more flexibility in setting up and administering accounts as well as ad-free versions of the service. Meanwhile law schools like ours are already making the move.

Two weeks ago I posted about a technology plan I was developing for the law library. Well, the draft is now complete, and I'll be submitting it to our director for approval later today. In composing the plan, I've tried to incorporate usability and patron needs into as many areas as I can. In addition, I've made every effort to leave as much room as possible for seamless adoption of new technologies as they emerge -- thus there is no mention of any specific tools in the plan.

Here's the complete draft:

Goal 1. The Law Library website will serve as a branch location of the library, offering any and all possible items and services to remote patrons.

Priorities:

• Integrate all remote library information and services into single unified web presence.
• Provide remote access to library collection and documentation.
• Develop unified searching and browsing mechanisms for all library resources.
• Adapt all content into formats usable by leading and emerging platforms.
• Implement emerging systems for communication with and among patrons.
• Permit patrons to complete library transactions remotely.
• Allow and encourage patrons to enrich, remix and reuse library content.
• Integrate usability testing into all library systems.

Goal 2. The Law Library will provide, and members of the Law Library staff will participate in, technology training programs designed to help staff provide competent service and assistance to the users of library technology.

Priorities:

• Schedule regular current technology awareness sessions for library faculty.

• Provide introductory training to all affected library staff members for newly acquired technology resources.
• Obtain and encourage feedback on and ideas for technology training from participating staff.
• Acquire or create instructional documentation for all library technology resources and make it easily accessible to all library staff and patrons.
• Incorporate user perspectives into all training programs in order to foster a usability-centered library culture.

Goal 3. The Law Library will obtain and implement equipment and services necessary to best attain the priorities listed in Goal 1.

Priorities:

• Establish realistic and appropriate priorities for technology needs in project planning, resource allocation, and institutional budgeting.
• Identify explicit service needs early in the planning stages of all technology projects.
• Perform sufficient research to identify and obtain the equipment and services that best meet the specific needs for each technology project.
• Provide the necessary equipment and services for in-house patrons to receive access to all the same items and services as remote patrons.

Goal 4. The Law Library staff will collaborate to implement and update the technology plan as necessary.

Priorities:

• Schedule regular brainstorming sessions for technology project ideas with full library staff.
• Solicit participation in project planning from any interested staff members.
• Involve all affected staff members in the design and testing of new items and services.
• Revisit this plan regularly to evaluate its continuing effectiveness and relevance to the library’s mission.
• Develop methodologies for integrating patron feedback into all appropriate business processes.

Two weeks of staring at this document have left me a bit myopic. Am I missing anything? Comments and criticism are welcomed.

Update: To see the complete draft of the technology plan, please read this post.

This week I'm engaged in writing a long-term technology plan for the library. This is an extremely challenging endeavor, not least of all because it's the first time I've been charged with composing such a document. Furthermore, there's no way to predict exactly where technology will lead in the next several years, at least not in any meaningful detail. As a result, I have to make sure to use language that is specific enough to give us a distinct direction in which to move but is vague enough not to lock us in to any specific tools that may become obsolete before we can even implement them.

The document's first goal involves remote access. A colleague of mine who works for a state court library is continuously frustrated by the fact that her library's website is maintained entirely by a separate department that handles PR duties for the government. This is precisely the mindset I want to avoid. Patron expectations have advanced to the point where a library website has to be much more than a PR tool for promoting the physical structure and the physical collection. The website needs to evolve into a full fledged branch location of the library. The website *is* the library. In laying the groundwork for this to happen, I've tried to ignore what is currently possible, both technologically and economically, and instead focus on what we would provide to patrons if anything was possible.

Here's my current draft of Goal #1:

Goal 1. The Law Library website will serve as a branch location of the library, offering any and all possible items and services to remote patrons.

Priorities:

• Integrate all remote library information and services into single unified web presence.
• Provide remote access to library collection and documentation.
• Develop unified searching and browsing mechanisms for all library resources.
• Adapt all content into formats usable by leading and emerging platforms.
• Implement emerging systems for communication with and among patrons.
• Permit patrons to complete library transactions remotely.
• Allow and encourage patrons to enrich, remix and reuse library content.

There is no mention of specific tools, no blogs, IM, RSS, mobile devices, etc. It is certainly my intent that those kinds of tools fall logically from the priorities listed (assuming they are the best tools available to accomplish these priorities), but those kinds of specifics can be outlined in detail in the plans for each individual technology project we undertake. And should better tools emerge in the meantime, this plan already provides for their implementation, too.

That's not to say this document is intended to cover all foreseeable events. The final goal in the technology plan will outline a procedure for re-evaluating the plan on a regular basis (quarterly? semi-annually? annually? I don't know yet), and providing for the capability to revise it as necessary.