I'm a big fan of wikis, although I have to admit I haven't spent a huge amount of time using them, except for Wikipedia, one of my favorite reference resources. I looked at Book Lovers Wiki and SJCPL Subject Guides, and thought they were both fun and extremely useful in a library environment.
Book Lovers Wiki appears to be a site where anyone can post a book review. I can see where this might appeal to teenagers and get them more interested in reading because it allows them a forum for personal expression. The dangers in this type of thing would be of course if someone had a personal grudge or wanted to post something inappropriate, and I assume that library staff has site administrator powers to review submissions before they are posted.
The SJCPL Subject Guides site is even more limited - looks like only SJCPL staff can post anything to the wiki, which isn't even clearly identified as a wiki. Not that this is a criticism - again, this is a very appropriate and useful application of the wiki concept in a library environment.
Wikipedia is often maligned for being an unreliable resource, and maybe that's true in some cases. But think of it this way - imagine interested subject-area experts around the world inputting information about topics they know extremely well without having to go through the hassle, road blocks and red tape of trying to get a book published. These people OWN this information - I imagine they are very protective of it. If anyone posts something inaccurate, inappropriate or libelous, I would imagine that the various people who care about accuracy of the information they posted would correct that as soon as they become aware of it. This is true world-wide intelligence here, folks - what could be more egalitarian and empowering?
Libraries can definitely use wikis for putting out information that might be useful to their users. What if we had a little wiki on our public Web site called something like "Reading Corner" - library staff could list their favorite books along with reviews and recommendations, and allow users to do the same (moderated, of course). It would be fun.
There are probably lots of other ways we could use wikis in the library but I'm running out of time - gotta go to the public service desk, you know - so let me just say I like them and hope we can generate some great ideas with this exercise.
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