Are you considering about taking the plunge into the planet of net 2. with your library and generating a wiki? I lately put together a successful wiki for my college library and so I would like to share some accomplishment strategies for how to do it successfully.
1. Which wiki platform are you going to use? This is critical due to the fact there are hundreds of them out there and they all differ in terms of ease of use, cost, and setup as well as the potential to control who can view your wiki as effectively 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 web-site? Or do you want to use the wiki to allow your patrons to interact with every single other?
3. What is the precise purpose for your wiki? To communicate among library workers? To communicate with your patrons? To let your patrons communicate with every other?
four. What content are you going to incorporate on your wiki? Just links to other pages on your library web web-site, a searchable library catalog, information and facts about library classes and events, well-liked books, news and announcements or other items?
five. Do you want to spend for a wiki service or do you want to use a cost-free wiki?
6. Is there a tech assistance individual obtainable to enable you set up 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 keeping a wiki? The hidden wiki is a lot less complicated to use and retain up with on a common web page, nonetheless, you cannot just put it up and by no means devote time operating on it.
7. It also helps if you can develop some wiki certain content. In our case we made topic pages for every single of the important subjects taught at our college and included links to databases, magazines, books, ebooks, specialized encyclopedias and web sites for every subject. We also have our library news and policies amongst other products of interest to our patrons on our wiki. You need to have to give your patrons a reason to study the wiki and to use it.
8. Wikis are one of the technologies of the future and as extra and more libraries and other businesses commence utilizing them, it is to your benefit to discover how to use one particular and to decide if it is suitable for your library.