2012 Best Practices for Government Libraries

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BEST PRACTICES 2012
been as an active participant, administrator, and trainer in a pilot in 2009 and then rollout
in 2010 of Google Apps for Business to National Geographic’s entire organization.
Google Apps replaced our current Lotus Notes messaging system and moved us “into the
cloud” for messaging and collaborative tools. National Geographic Google administrators
also participate in a Google-sponsored group called the Premium Customer Network
(PCN). PCN is an additional resource and support layer for us. It is made up of
organizations across the world and Google staff who mostly interact online through a
discussion group and secured Google Site.
Google Headquarters, Mountain View, CA, April 2012:
Reminds me of National Geographic’s encounter with Google.
Communication: When I first started to interact in the PCN group, I questioned the
value I could bring to this group since it was made up many individuals who came from a
much more technical background than me. In a presentation recently given for DC/SLA
(see http://shortlinks.cybersailors.org/2012Communities), I shared how the
communication, networking, leadership, planning, and presentation skils learned at
National Geographic and through involvement in SLA helped me to have a voice in the
Google enterprise community. The way we, in our profession, look at, collect, analyze and
share our ideas had a very real impact.