A Wiki (Hawaiian for fast) is quick, easy website where information can be entered, edited, or changed by the users that are members of that site. It's a great collaborative tool for exchanging ideas, planning events, or just pooling your expertise. Wikipedia, an open source encyclopedia, is the largest wiki. The advantage is that anyone can add more information to keep it updated and supposedly more accurate, as users can edit the information and add their own knowledge.
The disadvantage is that there are no solid means for verifying that the information is correct, and members sometimes engage in editing wars to try to get their perspective entered and delete an opposing viewpoint. For this reason, teachers will often not allow Wikipedia to be used as a source, even though it contains a lot of valuable information. Since anyone can add to or edit someone else's entries, the theory is that the end result will be a consensus of community ideas. But in the real world there are hackers with malicious intent who can wreck havoc. On the Library Success wiki, there is this update notice: "Because of vandalism problems, e-mail confirmation is now required." There was also an additional notice stating that from here on, if you add to the list of recommended vendors or software, you have to identify yourself so they know it's not coming from a vendor.
In spite of that, the Library Success site offered some helpful options, like professional opportunities for conferences, tips on public speaking and publishing your work, library resources like how to weed your collection or select materials, and even how to contact other librarians who IM. There was a place for librarians to showcase their successful library projects, which could be inspiring to other librarians.
The Bull Run Library has a fund raising option to donate to their library by purchasing a book from WorldCat. They were sponsoring a poetry writing contest that looked inviting. There was a link where you could check out copyright laws.
The St. Joseph County Public Library had an enticing link called "Talk to the Library." Patrons could leave feedback, comments, opinions and even IM a library staff member. There was also a phone number, which was a nice touch. You could renew your books, place holds, or pay fines online. There was a teen link with a gaming tournament schedule and pictures from previous tournaments. Under the discussion tab, patrons are told that if they have suggestions for new pages, to tell the librarians and they may add them, rather than letting the patrons have that control.
The Book Lovers Wiki was a place where members of a book club could write their own book reviews. They also sorted the books by genres and included an index for reviews.
The best part is that users don't need to know HTML to develop their own website with a wiki. It is simple to make new pages and links by just clicking on a button, which makes it easy to create and collaborate. This tool has given even non-techies the opportunity to develop their own web page.
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