Thing #16: What's in a Wiki?

One interesting thing I found is that very few libraries seem to allow the individual users to also participate in the wiki. Most were either by or for librarians and not the end user, and the user couldn’t edit or add to anything. I can see the point for both sides of this issue. If vandalism, misinformation, etc. occur on the site, chances are good that the librarians wouldn’t notice because most places don’t have enough staff to devote someone to just tracking the wiki. However, you would want to tap into the knowledge of your customers. You never know who is using the library and who may be able to expand on certain topics. Some libraries use wikis for staff only and not for public use at all – like schedules, website links for doing readers’ advisory, or staff information. All of the above are valid uses for wikis. It is another way that libraries are changing to fit the times.