Wikis

Topic: “Take a look at some library wikis and blog about your findings. What did you find interesting? What types of applications within libraries might work well with a wiki?”

I looked at the suggested wikis. The requirement of most or all of them to log in with a username and password interested me. One indicated that previous protocol did not require this. Greater accountability presumably leads to better content, but may deter some people from editing or adding content.

I believe that library applications that do not require an authoritative source, such as sharing book reviews, work best on public web sites. For internal library internet use, wikis that track authorship of edits also serve their audience.

The implied justification for wiki vs. traditional interested me also. I did not understand the justification for some wikis, such as the Bull Run Library wiki. Much of the factual library information there seemed to belong on the official website of the library system to which Bull Run belongs, Prince William County of Virginia libraries. I did not find links between the official and wiki sites. I believe they should link to each other.

I understand that one justification for wikis is to allow sites to grow with respect to direction and focus according to user interest. However, much of the content on the Bull Run wiki falls into categories that any library’s website should cover. I would be interested to know why the official site has so little information, assuming I found the right site.

Inviting user input for programming ideas, book purchases, and library patron concerns benefit from implementation as wikis most obviously to me. As with many internet tools, once I see them work, I better understand. Perhaps to fully understand a wiki's value, one must visit it over a period of time and observe its changes.