Wiki's in Libraries Thing 11

The wonderful world of WIKI’s! After watching the instructional videos and reading the accompanying articles I was on my road of discovery again!

A Wiki is a shared website where everyone can add and edit information. People contributing to Wiki articles do so because they share a common interest. They will try to add only accurate information. Knowledgeable co-publishers will certainly correct inaccuracies.

I do think Wiki articles can form a general base for a more extended information search.

I then took a look at the Wiki pages of the mentioned libraries.

Library Success : best practices: Lots of information bundled on one website. Various links for the viewer that want to search deeper. This is an excellent place to share information on conferences and seminars and sharing the lectures and information afterwards.

OB Deventer Publiekswiki: My first thought was that it looked like a ordinary website. Taking a further look I realised the added value of a Wiki for a library.

For example the author’s lists, people can freely contribute information about their favourite authors. Offering one click to a wide selection of information for any school project.

I followed the link to Kinderboekenweek 2009. Information plus video fragments plus photos! That will really trigger the interest of viewers. Especially of the younger users, a very important target group for any library.

Providing the library users with such an forum is a great way of getting input and ideas and information about the information and entertainment needs of the users. In most libraries where time is always limited this might be a great way of obtaining and having information published. The librarian still have the ability to edit and delete and add to any of the articles. This way ensuring the accuracy of information regarding the library activities and services.