Thing #12: Wikis 1

So yeah. I've been getting Wikis confused with widgets....those handy little things that sometimes pop up when I'm working on a Mac. Oh by the way, did you know that some college on the east coast had to write in their regulations that quoting Wikipedia in research papers was not allowed. I love looking things up in wikipedia, but honestly, as a source for collegiate papers?? Come on now people! I can't believe they actually had to make it part of their rules.....don't people know better than to use Wikipedia like that? I mean if you want to find out what year the Avett Brothers released their first underground track, then fine....but using it for real research??? Anywho, let's see what librarians are using wikis for....

The Mansfield Library Social Sciences Wiki Page
This wiki looks like it took a lot of hard work for the librarian who created it. I noticed that in order to add content to the wiki page you have to have a password. I thought one of the benefits of wikis was that anyone could add info without having to subscribe to something. I can see how this page connects one to Social Science related links & journals, but how is this better than our own "Research" tab? I couldn't imagine anyone but the research librarians adding content to this wiki so why not just have an internal page like ours? I do like the link on the bottom to create your own wiki though.

Book Lovers Wiki
I like the idea of a wiki solely dedicated to book reviews. Also, when you click on any of the book titles it links you to the Princeton Public Library catalog results. I feel a little uneasy about only having one genre for 'non-fiction' and no subset subject categories. Although I suppose a public library can do that without worrying too much. Again, I tried to add content and a sandwich popped up asking me to subscribe $ ... I thought wikis were free. I'm confused.

Library Success: A best practices wiki
I LOVE this idea. Sharing best practices internationally is awesome! Not just reading about guiding principles but learning about staff training, grant writing, services for specific groups...etc is extremely beneficial. I want to know why I have not heard about this service before. I think that changing and improving processes is an important part of providing quality patron service and sharing great ideas and best practices in an easily accessible media is awesome!

ALA 2006 New Orleans wiki
Let me just state that attending an ALA conference is a dream of mine. So if anyone wants to contribute to Sheri's ALA '08 Fund, I accept M.O., cash, check, Visa, MasterCard, Discover and PayPal. However, now with this New Orleans 06 Wiki, I can pretend like I was there! Oh and did anyone notice the link to the pictures on Flickr?? Also with this wiki and the one listed above, ANYONE can add information!

I've been having problems with thinking up of library uses for a couple of the 23 things....but wikis, no way! Now here's a way we can share information and improve our practices easily and instantly!