Are you thinking about taking the plunge into the planet of web 2. with your library and creating a wiki? I recently put together a thriving wiki for my college library and so I would like to share some success suggestions for how to do it successfully.
1. Which wiki platform are you going to use? This is crucial for the reason that there are hundreds of them out there and they all vary in terms of ease of use, value, and setup as well as the ability to handle who can view your wiki as well as who can post to your wiki.
two. Do you want to use your wiki exclusively as a technique of organizing and altering material on your website? Or do you want to use the wiki to allow your patrons to interact with every single other?
3. What is the precise goal for your wiki? To communicate amongst library staff? To communicate with your patrons? To let your patrons communicate with every other?
4. What content material are you going to consist of on your wiki? Just hyperlinks to other pages on your library web web site, a searchable library catalog, info about library classes and events, common books, news and announcements or other items?
5. Do you want to pay for a wiki service or do you want to use a absolutely free wiki?
six. Is there Hidden wiki url out there to assistance you install your wiki and to assist with some periodic upkeep? If not, do you have a librarian who can take charge of the wiki and its updates and the technological side of maintaining a wiki? A wiki is a lot easier to use and hold up with on a normal website, having said that, you can’t just put it up and under no circumstances devote time operating on it.
7. It also assists if you can develop some wiki particular content. In our case we made topic pages for every single of the major subjects taught at our college and incorporated hyperlinks to databases, magazines, books, ebooks, specialized encyclopedias and internet websites for each and every topic. We also have our library news and policies amongst other items of interest to our patrons on our wiki. You require to give your patrons a reason to read the wiki and to use it.
8. Wikis are 1 of the technologies of the future and as extra and far more libraries and other businesses start using them, it is to your benefit to discover how to use a single and to choose if it is right for your library.