It was fun to find out the true meaning of Wiki (quick in Hawaiian). I had always wondered where this word originated from!
I particularly enjoyed reading some of the entries on the Library Success wiki. There seemed to be some helpful sharing of information that would be of use in many libraries. It is almost as if you have hundreds of librarian friends instead of just a few!
It was interesting to note that the Library Success wiki had obviously been having some difficulty with vandalism because they now require you to give an email address in order to submit/edit an entry. This would be my major concern about obtaining information from wiki's; can the source be trusted? In fact one of my son's college professors prohibits his students from using Wikipedia due to this very concern.
It seems as if wiki's need to have some kind of permanent overseer in order to safeguard the site in some way. Obviously a full-time job for someone!
I also found the Bull Run Library wiki interesting although it obviously revolved around that particular library and the events/news going on there.
I see this particular wiki concept as something that could be useful to the libraries here in Chester County. At the moment most of us have our own web-sites which give our patrons library information. However, it might be really interesting to allow our patrons to post their own thoughts and responses to programs and events rather than having them send us an individual email.
This would also encourage patrons to interact with one another. For example, the children's library could have its own wiki which allows parents to share information about books that their children have particularly enjoyed and which ones to avoid etc. To deal with the concern of wiki vandalism we could allow access to the site only to those who have a Chester County library card such as we do now with PowerLibrary home access.
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