Google Tools at the Disposal of Librarians and skills for the Enhancement of Library Services: A Conceptual Review (Published)
In recent time, there has been the emergence of cloud computing, the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the internet to store, manage, and process data, rather than a local server or a personal computer which allows numerous clients to use the same platform at the same time without any interference from any point online. The king of this practice is the Google cloud computing that paved way for the creation of the famous online Google workspace that houses many Google tools. This paper holistically takes a look at this Google Workplace and the surrounding Tools. The paper analytically discussed the various tools such as Gmail, Chat, Meet, Calendar, Drive for storage; Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms and Google Scholar among others and where and how they can be applied and utilized by librarians and libraries towards enhancing their services to their heterogeneous users in a digital ecosystem as well as the skills librarians need to acquire for optimal utilization of the Google Workplace and the surrounding products. At the end of it all, the paper drew its conclusion and suggested among other things that Librarians with the support of library management should be trained on how to manage and utilize to the fullest various Google Tools and that all university library websites should be Google connect as to have all staff create a Gmail account with which they can access all Google products and the library should as well create corporate Gmail account and link with which all staff should be mandated to utilize Google Scholar tool to enhance the university visibility online and quick staff identity verification.
Keywords: Gmail, Google tools, Google workplace, Google+, Information and Communication Technology, Librarians, Library, Library Services