#10 Wiki Wiki!

When it comes to wiki's, I've been more of reader and less of an editor. This will orce me to be a participant. Personally I use Wikipedia to find general information on a topic or to answer all the oddball questions that pop into my head. In a school setting most teachers don't allow them as a resource and I know that many Wikipedia pages are actually filled with great, updated information. I think it can be a good starting place for research. Sometimes links are provided to articles and websites, for more authoritative sources. I wouldn't cite it, but would use it as a stepping stone.

After looking at the Albany Public Library's staff wiki, I think wiki's would be a useful tool for the circulation department. Policies and procedures change and new things are always being added. A circulation procedures wiki could easily be updated at any time or added to. Of course we'd have to limit editing to managers/supervisors when it comes to procedure to maintain accuracy. However, if we ever had to work on an ideas as a department wiki's would be a great tool because it wouldn't require a scheduled meeting. Likewise wiki's might also be a good method for collaboration on committee work. Definitely easier than archiving a zillion e-mails about changes made to a project. I noticed many active committees already have these pages.

The downside to Wiki's is the fact that they might not be updated by users as frequently as they need to be. This happens with many website and blogs as well. Although they are subject to being vandalized, I don't see it as a problem for MCPL's internal wiki's.

I edited the 23 things wiki favorite book section and added a popular newspaper as well. The PB wiki was really easy to get access to. Once I received the e-mail to verify my account, the steps were easy to follow to set up the account. The View tab and Edit tab were easy to find and editing was similar to the blogger format so nothing new. I prefer the wiki approach to the Google Docs approach, although I can see the purpose in each one.