Thing 10 - Wikis

I think that wikis could be an invaluable part of the sharing of knowledge in a library. And they're a lot of fun!

I went a little crazy at the 23 Things wiki. I added a response on the FrontPage regarding how to "market" books. Then I saw that there was a PLA 2008 page, so I added a comment there, since that conference is going on right now. Finally, I wanted to create a new page, so I started one for "Ramsey County," the system that I work for. I started the page because I have wondered if any of my compadres are participating in the program, but, once I started writing, I started thinking that a wiki would be an excellent tool for sharing information from different people, within and among the different branches of a system.

We receive emails from supervisors in the different branches, but the scenario is a lot like the Common Craft video - it's messy, emails flying in from all over. A wiki would provide a central place for that information to be kept. The information wouldn't be just top-down, but those on the front lines could communicate to each other, and also back to their supervisors. Finally, I think a wiki would support "best practices" kind of procedures. Wiki-ers could find out what their counterparts in other branches are doing, if they are doing anything differently, and what their thoughts are on the topic. It's a "win" for everyone, I think.