Thing #17 Wiki wacky woo, or what's interesting about wikis, for libraries

Or should that be Wookie wacky wig? I'm sorry, Wookie wiki wag! No! No! I meant Wiki Wookie wacky wag! What? No! Wookie whacky wiki wacky wiggy wag! Ugh! No! Wiki wiki Wookie whacky wacky wiggy wag! Thats it! No! Maybe! I'm not sure! I think I've forgotten it!

Wikis are great collaborative tools. Lincoln City Libraries uses several wikis for staff collaboration, and they work well. We don't currently have any public wikis, but I hope that we eventually will offer some. I have, myself, in the past, added entries to Wikipedia to link to some of our archival resources, and I believe this pays off in terms of increased interest.

The Project for Public Spaces (PPS) has a thoughtful page on "How to Make Your Library Great". Among the points they make are that great libraries, rather than thinking of themselves as one-way conduits of information, "foster dialog and exchange with their users." Public wikis offer the single most effective way for a library to move this philosophy onto the web, because the work you do on them, and the contribution the public makes, can endure and continue to help build community and serve other users over time. The Des Moines Public library, for example has a "Des Moines local history wiki" that registered visitors can edit. Its early days there, but it could develop into something really interesting. There are many good local history wikis on the web, especially in Great Britain and Australia, for some reason. As the PPS page also says, great libraries are appreciated as stewards of local history and lore, and this kind of wiki could be a great step forward in providing that kind of service. Since we are on a "W" kick, here is a link to the Wagga Wagga history wiki.

I also liked St. Joseph County Public Library's subject guide wiki. The library has succeeded in creating a flexible, well organized and rather portal like subject guide that works really well. I like that a lot.

It might also be interesting to experiment with offering a (public) wiki for library book displays, encouraging discussion of the books and the topic for the display. This might not work, but it might catch on for some topics, and again, it would foster dialog and build community at the same time.