I checked out Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki, and browsed through Programming and found some good suggestions for adult programming. I use Wikipedia regularly as a starting point for a basic reference query, and follow up with other resources. I don't trust Wikipedia as an authoritative source, but really like the whole concept of wikis allowing a group of people to collaboratively develop a website with little or no knowledge of HTML.
My college aged son thinks the world of Wikipedia, even after I've explained to him that sometimes you need to consult professionally edited resources like Encyclopedia Britannica or accurately documented research databases when doing serious research.
As far as the possibilities for what libraries can do with wikis, they are a place for quick and easy collaborative work to share information. For instance, various subjects guides can be posted and the librarian doesn't have the burden of constantly having to update it.
I think our OPAC should have wiki functionality like Amazon.com. Patrons have access to a summary and various reviews in our catalog on a particular book, why not allow them to post synopses and reviews for books they've read. Why leave all the work to the professionals to review the books?
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
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