Okay, so I'll admit I am wary about the information in wikis. I am aware that they're less restrictive than true encyclopedias and journals, and are supposed to be a collaboration of all the best info out there, but being an editable document, they're open to tampering. I do use wikipedia sometimes when I'm looking for general info, but it's not an authoritative source. I was, however, quite surprised and impressed by some of these wiki sites I checked out.
Library Success: A best practices wiki
This one has just made it to my delicious account. I love the idea of a site dedicated to the successes of other libraries. As a relative newcomer to the public library sphere, I found a lot of the pages I went to were very informative. However, there was also pages that didn't have any content on them. I guess that's what happens with user generated content... a user has to generate it!
It was interesting to note that at the top of the main page of this wiki, there was a comment about site vandalism, which now required users to login to edit content. I suppose a login requirement would make a wiki more "authoritative". On that same note, the SJCPL Subject Guides is also only able to be edited by librarians, which would make it more authoritative as well. It was interesting to see some of the topics they chose to highlight on this site. This site seemed to have more of the "traditional" wiki layout (like the contents box at the top) making it quite user friendly. In the "homework" section, they list a lot more links like dictionaries and style guides which would be nice to list in our homework section too.
I found the Waterloo Way Wiki to be very interesting. I liked how the main page listed articles they were looking for, as well as information on how to use and update this wiki. I did find it interesting how all the articles were about male entrepreneurs in Waterloo Region... there's got to be some females out there, no?
Could a wiki be useful to the library? Sure... book reviews, pathfinders, homework help, community events... the list is long. Should we implement one? We would have to figure out how to monitor or restrict posting to the wiki, but it's something to think about.
1 comment:
I’m glad you can see some uses for wikis in your library. They are a great communication tool and they can be a lot of fun to generate as well. There are a wide range of security features available though wikis generator websites to allow you to customize who can contribute to your blog.
The library success wiki seems to be popular among course participants…so I guess it shows that wikis can work well if monitored and maintained properly.
Jenny
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