Thursday, February 26, 2009

Wikis

Well, quite honestly, I could easily see a library wiki being exactly the type of thing I described in my last post. Take Princeton Public Libraries' wiki for instance. While it does seem a little bare around the edges, it does have an ongoing series of reviews of books, apparantly by customers who had taken part in their Summer Reading Program. This would be a great vehicle for people to peruse their libraries materials and see what is worthwhile reading. It would also give librarians the chance to see what is liked by customers. Another interesting wiki is that of St. Joseph County Public Library. Edited solely by librarians, it has an easily understandable format that provides pertinent information to customers. From the most current biographies, to genealogical data, to local scholarships, this wiki has a lot of information neatly organized for quick access.

In my opinion, TCCL could easily benefit from a wiki or two. While our current way of conveying information to public is pretty good, I must admit that the latter of the above wikis was a whole lot easier to understand and wade through than ours. While I suppose that is partially due to the fact that we have a whole lot more information, i.e., we are a larger system, I think is mostly due to the innate convenience of the "Wikipedia"-esque layout. Personally, I think it would be convenient, and a little cool, to take advantage of both of the above wiki designs. Having one wiki where librarians edit info about their library, its events, and other news and another where customers write reviews, recommend titles, and discuss ideas would be a major improvement on OPAC.

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