Week 5 - Wikis Yipee!!

I have to confess I've always been quite skeptical about Wikipedia and the concept of making information available that can be modified so freely by others. So, although I have certainly used Wikipedia, and appreciate its convenience, I've only ever used it as a first step to lay groundwork from which I can research a topic more thoroughly. I therefore found it very interesting to find out that the information may be more reliable than I had anticipated. I'm also very interested to spend more time looking at Citizendium.

So, discovering more of the world of wikis and their potential for application in library environments has been another real eye-opener. I love the idea of having a more accessible forum for interaction between library and customers and between library customers. We could perhaps use wikis to draw more local knowledge from customers, both historical and current. To get customers to contribute to the information in our catalogue, including information about authors. Sometimes knowing more about the author enriches the reading experience. However, I do have concerns about managing the wiki if it's openly accessible to customers and ensuring it isn't too time-consuming for staff. It would be interesting to see whether problems would arise or whether those who might choose to be a little mischievous would not be interested enough to create a problem.

There also appears to be many potential applications for wikis within the organisation and within the profession. For example, I like the idea of policy and procedure manuals being accessible for all staff to be able to contribute as situations arise, hence ensuring they are living documents. Perhaps this, in combination with an RSS feed to notify of updates could make it a less time-consuming tool.