Google Alerts- Sherlock Holmes
By Don Hobbs

Several years ago, in 2004 to be exact, I was in Austin, Texas at the request of Les Klinger (see The Maniac Collector's Inbox, No. 26, 2004; Dec. 26, 2004). He was in town plugging his newly published The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes and I was invited to tag along. It was during this trip that Les told me about Google Alerts.

For those who are not familiar with Google Alerts, it is a service provided by Google (http://www.google.com/alerts?hl=en&gl=) that sends an email with links to whatever criteria is selected. All one needs to do is go the web site, enter 'Search Terms'; Type (there is drop-down with the available selections); how often; and a valid email address. I set a search for "Sherlock Holmes" to be comprehensive and to receive an email once a day. Just like magic, I get an email every day with links to where Sherlock Holmes is mentioned in the world. In the past 4 years there have been very few days that there was no mention of Sherlock Holmes.

One of the alerts I had was about an article that was in the Fort Worth Star Telegram. I have always been a subscriber to The Dallas Morning News but after reading my alert, I was able to pick up a copy of the other paper and add it my collection. I remember John Bennett Shaw once told me he subscribed to a clipping service that sent him anything about Sherlock Holmes from all over the world. John would be smiling if he was around in the Internet Age, he would have such an incredible amount of information at his fingertips.

As nice as Google Alerts are, they can be a bit redundant. The case in point is the recently announced Sherlock Holmes movies. The average number of alerts per email message is around four. Some days there are as many as fifteen alerts. When Will Farrell and Sacha Baron Cohen were outed as the next Holmes and Watson, it made nearly every paper in America and thus showed up on the Google Alerts. The nice thing however is they are free and I certainly do not feel obligated to read every alert.

Regardless of one's level as a Sherlockian, Google Alerts are an excellent way to stay on top of the latest Sherlockian news. This Sherlockian says check it out.

Happy Collecting!!