Thing #16

I plan to use wikis in the library this school year. I have never set one up before, but I will practice doing so before school begins. I need a wiki for my Name That Book team to list which books they have read and to comment on them. I may use a rating system and add a comment page. They will love doing this. I have a debate coach who is always looking for sources that the group can share. I can set up a wiki for her to have students post these sources. Having my own librarian wiki will enable me to share ideas and resources with staff and students. I e-mail staff a weekly newsletter, and it seems that as soon as I click that send button, I discover something else that I want to share. I don’t want to send multiple e-mails to clutter up the in boxes. If I had a well organized wiki, I could add to it and teach patrons to search the wiki for help and information. I really liked Meredith Gorran Farkas’ comments on wikis. She makes clear that a wiki must have a specific purpose and some sort of structure so that people will feel comfortable posting. She also gives a suggestion for a spam filter to use:

http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/index.php/2005/07/05/ala-wiki-what-i-learned-and-what-im-doing-with-it/