Wikis

The potential ideas for using Wikis is very exciting.

During my surfing of the various wikis; Wookiepedia, Book Lovers, SJPCL Subject guide and the Library success. I find looking at several different subjecy oriented wikis, gives me a better feel for how they can be applied in a Library setting.

For instance with the Book Lovers wiki, I enjoyed reading the various staff recommendations in different genres and also highlighting the Adult Reading Club which is a program I am interested in running at our Library. It would be great for members of our community to be able to contribute with their favourite books or to submit reviews for books. The other possible idea is an online book club, linked to a blog. This would mean anybody could join the club at anytime without feeling like they are behind everybody else in the group.

The Library success wiki, although American, certainly provides ideas on how useful such a site can become. Several colleagues of mine, who were either once Children's librarians or still are have been talking about an online course or developing a procedures manual to develop skills applicable to these positions, which no longer seem to be compulsory in Library courses. I also think it would be quite useful to put our Procedures manual into a wiki based on our intranet to allow better access to its contents.

The SJPCL Subject guides was also enjoyable to explore. While on first glance it seems to be just a page of weblinks, underneath is access to all sorts of information. Community information, family history and general hobby information. When looking at this site, the idea of creating a family history wiki or even a historic suburb wiki is certainly another idea which would benefit the Library and the community.

I simply loved the Wookiepedia, my brother is a huge Star wars fan. He must have seen the movies at least 200 times, can quote them off by heart and even has Trivial Pursuit - Star Wars edition. So I was curious as to how accurate the information on the site was, to my surprise it pretty correct, though I am hardly an expert. This wiki might be one that I could possibly submit useful information to in the future.