Wikis

I haven't used a wiki in library work specifically, but as a graduate trainee I contribute to the Cambridge Trainee Librarians website, CaTaLOG. This involves working collaboratively with the other trainess, so we use a wiki on CamTools where we write a website updates to-do-list, put our names down on the webmaster rota, and make a note of the updates we have made. It is useful for keeping on top of what needs to be done and who's doing what. Like Google Docs, wikis seem to provide a much less messy way to collaborate with others rather than sending multiple emails backwards and forwards. It seems that wikis have greater utility for collaboration between library staff than as a tool for communication with users: would we want to make resource guides available through something that users can edit, or would it just be best to make them viewable on a library website? The main advantages of a wiki seem to be that it is faster to update, can be fully-text searchable, and is easier to navigate. If it is possible to limit editing rights of certain material to only library staff, maybe this would be a good tool for sharing information more widely with users.

I can see that a wiki would be useful for internal library project management in order to coordinate activities. The Library Routes Project sounds great, and as an aspiring librarian I'll have to check it out. I think it's really exciting to see what can be achieved when people are given the opportunity to contribute to and participate in something. Though there are issues with this open participation, I really like the notion behind the idea that by working together people can create some really incredible things.