Thing #16 - Wikis

I looked at a number of the wikis suggested in Thing #16

I liked the way the Oregon library's Library 2.0 page was organized. Everything at a glance is both aesthetically pleasing and useful for learning. No scrolling is a good thing :-)

I've used and contributed to the libsuccess wiki, in the Gaming section. The BCPL collection is included in the section of libraries circulating games, and I've received a number of emails looking for further information due to our collection being referenced there.

I didn't care for the Princeton PL's BookLoversWiki. Perhaps with more time it will be more fleshed out. It was unclear who was reviewing the books, and for Malcolm Gladwell's Blink to receive a 2-star review on a library's page needs very obvious clarification to viewers.

The Bull Run Library wiki is an interesting way to communicate, but again, aesthetics are a problem. The header is muddy, and the white space and bullet points going down the left side quickly bored me.

The ability to edit in a wiki is clearly the most important. I have edited numerous Wikipedia entries for spelling and grammar issues that I couldn't pass unchecked. I've also removed subjective material from entries on Wikipedia. I find Wikipedia immensely useful and a great addition to online research, but when I put my librarian hat on, I feel the need to separate fact from opinion.