Week 7, Thing #16 - Wikis

I've spent quite a bit of time looking at wikis, and then reading the blogs of those who have already done this. I appreciated the suggestions that many of you made as to how to use a wiki in a library setting. It seems like most librarians who have started wikis are in secondary schools. I would like to see more from elementary schools.

I think that until I try starting a wiki, I won't really know how much I like it and what the advantages and disadvantages are. I do like the idea of a book lovers wiki. I'd love to start one for students to add their summer reading selections to, along with their reviews and recommendations. I'm not sure how this would work out for elementary students. A few people suggested starting a wiki for library staff or volunteers and this sounds intriguing to me. I don't know how comfortable volunteers would feel adding to it.

I enjoyed the article, "Using Wikis to Create Online Communities" with all its excellent suggestions. Recently the librarians in my district have been working on long range planning documents as well as plans for the "Optimum School Library" (requested by the superintendent). We had several meetings and I see that we could have set this up as a wiki and worked on it collaboratively. I will be on the look-out for other opportunities to use this technology. I will be on leave for 2 months soon and perhaps I can use some of that time to start a wiki. As I said, until I use it myself, I won't really be able to evaluate its usefulness for me.