Wikis

For some reason, when I think "wiki," I sort of get the song "Iko Iko" in my head.

But on to business.... here are some good library-land wikis that were on my radar:

Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki

Library Instruction Wiki

Improve ALA Wiki

Teen Tech Week Wiki

And I decided that I'd start my own wiki to pull together all of the web design resources I've been amassing as a fledgling webmistress with only a very basic foundation of web design skills. I used the Wiki Matrix, which returned 20 results based on my answers to a few questions about the requirements I would have for my wiki. Based on these results, I chose WetPaint, which was also favorably reviewed in this article in School Library Journal.

So without further ado, here is my wiki: Library Websites for Eager Novices. I wanted to call it Library Web Design for Eager Novices, but apparently that title is one measly character longer than the title field is allowed to have. Like this blog, it's been another case of "I never saw the point, but now that I'm doing it I'm finding it very useful and enjoyable." It's really bringing home for me the implications and exciting possibilities of readily-editable, user-created content on the Web.

And finally, for my FPPLD colleagues, I've made some contributions to the staff wiki. Quite some time ago I added several items to the "Reference Corner," and split that area into Local Ready Reference and Reference on the Web. And the other day, I added a couple items to the suggested materials area--I had a few that I had forgotten to add to our statistics sheet when they came up, so I just decided to skip that step and add them directly into the wiki. I might just continue doing that--what do we think about that? One less thing for Vanessa to worry about? In addition, I also added items to the Staff Computer FAQ's (printing and the cardinal rule(s) of troubleshooting) as well as the Public Computer FAQ's.