I think that just like many of the other Web 2.0 technologies, wikis have a place in libraries if used in the right context. Even Wikipedia is useful if used with some common sense. I wouldn't cite Wikipedia as a source for research, the same as I wouldn't trust everything my neighbor Bob says about a serious research topic, but I would use it to get me started on a subject I know little about, just to give me an overview of the subject and ideas of what keywords to use and sources to look up in real research databases.
Wikis are great for collaboration among many people at once, with easy updating and editing. Various staff members at our library have started subject-oriented wikis intended to be used as research guides. And our staff web page is about to become a wiki that anyone on the staff can edit. All of our cataloging department documentation will be in wiki format in the same staff wiki (only accessible with a staff login)
As far as other library related wikis from the Learning 2.0 exercise, so far I like the Blogging Libraries Wiki, a collection of links to library blogs, and the Library and Information Science Wiki, offering everything from the Image of Librarians to library policy issues.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment