Montana State University has Google Apps enterprisewide

Created a variety of apps:

• Search widget: catalog, articles, journals, proxied Google Scholar
• Database widget: Can customize with top 20 popular dbs (and display 5 at a time)
• Feeds widget for library blogs, Twitter, new books, videos
• Flickr widget
• MediaHub: video, audio, etc. Most recently published one shows up
• Google maps widgets: street view tour of campus (very popular)
• WIkipedia map of campus
• Chat reference widget
• Tour widget (video on YouTube)
• Floor maps widget (Flash vector map)
• Archives widget (pictures)
• Photo album widget
• Course specific gadgets

Coding: HTML, Javascript, and CSS

Widgets can be used in web pages with some modification as well

Working on ad for front page of website during redesign

Promoting them: Users can find through Google directory and promotion on website

When gadget is created, submit to a directory: advertising from Google directory and main library website

You can embed iGoogle gadgets in other things without requiring people to have an iGoogle account (as long as it handles javascript, you can put it in LMS, LibGuide, websites, Google  Wave, etc)

You can sign up for a developer account to get a sandbox to play in 

Google Gadget Editor: http://code.google.com/apis/gadgets/docs/tools.html#GGE

Google Gadget Sandbox: http://google.com/ig/sandbox/

Don't have to be a coder; can just plug and play as long as you know flash file or feed name; others require HTML/XML, CSS and Javascript skills; they make code available

Markup and tags: <ModulePrefs>-Gadget settings; <UserPref>-User personalization (customized databses); 

Publishing gadgets: Go to http://code.google.com/apis/gadgets/docspublish.html

Add metadata to help SEO: e.g. title_url=LIBRARYLINK

To see how it was done, View Source on existing gadgets

Best practices:

Think small apps;

• start simple (search box)
• Enter a lot of metadata
• Host your files locally (more control) and then let Google know you updated
• Use dev tools
• Monitor stats

Tracking stats (several ways)

• iGoogle dashboard: igoogledeveloper.blogspot. com/2009/11/launching-igoogle-gadget-dashboard.html
• Google Analytics
• iGoogle Directory stats

Pretty good stats esp. for Wikipedia map, video repository (campuswide for these); search widget;

Unique users have selected widget and put it on their page; page views is how many times people have hit it in

Demos: lib.montana.edu/tools/gadgets.php

lib.montana.edu/%7jason/

Other people doing this:

• Nina McHale: crln.acrl.org/
• Ed Metz: http://socialnetworkinglibrarian.com/index.php/archive/igoogle-gadgets/\\

Future: 

• Micro-library apps
• What will happen to the library web
• Library services as widget
• Rolling your own everything