Internet Librarian: Wikis for Libraries
Originally, I was going to attend The Best of Resource Shelf: SE Update with everyone’s favorite librarian, Gary Price, then attend the last half of Wikis for Libraries, but I got a little, uh, distracted with a tech problem and just made it to the last bit of Wikis for Libraries.
I saw part of Marianne Kruppa’s talk about the St. Joseph County Public Library’s Subject Guides and how the library’s circulation department is using the wiki to create their policy handbook.
Chad Boeninger of Ohio University Libraries is telling us all about The Biz Wiki. He reminds us that wikis take and save time, help extend our powers and knowledge as librarians, and can be a way we can market ourselves.
It’s amusing to hear Boeninger describe himself as a “young, hipster librarian” because he’s in his early thirties. Since, um, age is such an issue in our profession, it made me smile to think that his, um, older colleagues think of him different from other colleagues because of his age.
It seems like MediaWiki is a prefered platform among librarians–at least among the presenters. Many cite it as being easy to install and use. Some have even mentioned that many people are familiar with it because of Wikipedia. One of the panelists mentioned some code they use with it that helps block wiki spam. She also mentioned that it isn’t the easiest platform to customize in terms of making the colors and look similar to the library’s Web site.
Tag: il2006
