Sam 2.0

The University of Minnesota Libraries Staff Website is a wiki set up as a staff website for those working in the University of Minnesota’s Libraries. It is hosted on the university’s own servers.

This well-designed wiki functions as a homepage and intranet site for library staff. The site solicits input via e-mail but there is no obvious means of editing pages on-line. In fact it is not obviously a wiki at all, with links to staff resources appearing in the left sidebar rather than links to wiki administrative functions such as “recent changes”. It seems to function through the efforts of a small number of administrators although the presence of a “login” link may indicate an editing role for those with accounts. The consistent and somewhat complex (for wikis) format of pages would indicate a high degree of central control as well.

The site is an example of how a wiki can be used as an easily updated web site. In this case it can be called a knowledge management tool as it maintains links to useful documents, lists of staff and organizational charts. As Farkas states: “You don’t have to make every wiki document open to editing by all users of the wiki. Sometimes the purpose of a wiki’s page is just to make it easier for you to edit things.”

There is no link to this site from the library home page but this is a reflection of its use for staff rather than the public. This site is easy to navigate and has a simple style to it that makes reading easier. This would certainly be the first place I would go for staff information. It might try to feature the ability to edit more in links on each page, however the model of a few maintaining it for the benefit of many seems to be serving this wiki well.

The Oregon Library Instruction Wiki is a resource created (and being created) by the Oregon Library Association’s Library Instruction Roundtable. It has adopted a recognizable wiki format that suggests an active community of contributors. The software is hosted on the OLA’s servers and is the Media Wiki package that wikipedia runs on. Contributions may come from anyone as long as they register with the wiki site.

Judging by the “Community Portal” page, there is a relatively small community working on the wiki at the moment. This may account for some dust gathering, in this case some wiki spam on the “Style Guide” page (archived link). Judging from the “recent changes” page however this seems to be the result of automated programs inserting spam in the wiki rather than neglect.

As Lamb says:

It’s undeniably true that determined vandals can make real pests of themselves. But an open environment also encourages participation and a strong sense of common purpose, so the proportion of fixers to breakers tends to be high, and a wiki will generally have little difficulty remaining stable—assuming that people see value in its existence and have a genuine interest in keeping things tidy.

This wiki is still attracting its community but is fulfilling its role as a knowledge management system for Oregon librarians.

Perhaps it is a function of the wikis general usefulness to all librarians but there is no obvious way to find the wiki on the Oregon Library Association site or the  Library Instruction Roundtable. Overall the wiki has a clean, simple interface that makes it easy to use and intuitive. Improvement would come in the form of a larger user base to make more contributions and edits.

The Teen Space Poetry Wiki is a hosted by the Internet Public Library on their own servers and uses the Media Wiki software as does wikipedia. This wiki is part of the library’s TeenSpace section dedicated to teen users. The Internet Public Library is a “virtual library” serving patrons on the the internet, through the internet. The library was founded at the University of Michigan School of Information and is currently hosted by Drexel University’s College of Information Science & Technology.

This wiki seems to have developed a group of active contributors judging by the “recent changes” page which indicates that users are communicating with each other and uploading/editing content. It’s users number over one thousand. This is definitely a community blog. It’s somewhat raw appearance and use of the Media Wiki software indicates an open approach to contributions and contributors which is perhaps attractive to this age group.

According to Lamb supporting creative writing is a very appropriate use of wikis:

Perhaps the most common pedagogical application of wikis in education is to support writing instruction. At Teaching Wiki (http://teachingwiki.org), Joe Moxley, a professor of English at the University of South Florida, lists a number of the medium’s strengths for the teaching of writing skills: wikis invigorate writing (“fun” and “wiki” are often associated); wikis provide a low-cost but effective communication and collaboration tool (emphasizing text, not software); wikis promote the close reading, revision, and tracking of drafts; wikis discourage “product oriented writing” while facilitating “writing as a process”; and wikis ease students into writing for public consumption.

The emphasis on the Teen Space Poetry Wiki is certainly on text. It also serves as a near public forum as the wiki is in a somewhat hidden corner of the library not unlike teen spaces in “brick and mortar” libraries.

The wiki is easily found from the Teen Space web site on the IPL’s main web site. Although a bit rough around the edges the wiki has one much of what expect of a wiki if one is used to wikipedia and thus may be readily understandable with those who are familiar with that site. The wiki itself I found easy to use with many links to various parts of the wiki available from the home page. If I had an inclination to poetry I think I might bring it here. It might be improved through changes to the styles used in the wiki however the “rough” style of the wiki might be lending it credibility in the eyes of its principal users.

The BookLoversWiki is a wiki that supported the Princeton Public Library’s adult summer reading club in 2006. The 2007 bookclub also accepted patron reviews however this was facilitated by the library’s new OPAC that allows user reviews to be contributed. The wiki software itself is hosted at pbwiki.com, a host for wiki software that provides advertising free accounts for educational use.

During the 2006 project, patrons were able and encouraged to post their own book reviews. Contributors were restricted to members of the PPL’s reading club. Contributors signed up via e-mail instead of on-line using the wiki. This was probably the easiest way for library staff to admit only reading club members.

The goal of this wiki was to annotate the catalogue. The later incorporation of reviews into the library OPAC is a more elegant solution to implementing this service for patrons. There has been some work done on the format of pages such that the default look of pbwiki pages is not evident. The reviews have been catergorized into genres, however instead of using tags or categories they have been brought together in separate pages. I had expected a more open design, such that each review would have its own page and perhaps allow for multiple genres via tags or categories functioning as subject headings. The format of the reviews is generally consistent on each page with some variations. For example, on some pages, there is a link from the review to the catalogue record in the library OPAC. On the whole the site shows a lot of work done by the wiki administrators in this case, the library staff. The site would seem to use the wiki for its ability to quickly publish content rather than as a community-style wiki. It would seem to have accomplished its goal with over 100 user reviews contributed and published.

The site is no longer easily found from the library’s main site although this is a function of it being out of date. The wiki functions well as a platform for publishing user reviews and it was easy to find them. Although slightly different in design the wiki generally complies with the sinple style prevalent in the reat of the library. I might only suggest, that the wiki could have been nore open to uers to contribute directly. THis might have encouraged more reviews to be submitted..

The Doucette Library of Teaching Resources Wiki is a wiki resource of the Doucette Library of Teaching Resources, which in turn supports students and faculty of the Faculty of Education at the University of Calgary. It uses the Media Wiki wiki software and is hosted by the University of Calgary’s systems.

This site is a series of pages that are part of a larger wiki site that serves the University of Calgary in general. The pages in the Doucette Library section are lists of links and resources contributed by library patrons including lists of recommended books for children sorted by age appropriateness. Although functioning with a user base of contributors, the site exists as a readily update-able list of links and information or interest to the library’s patrons. It acts as a community guide with a very limited scope (to date). As Farkas stated: “Opening up a community guide to the public allows a wealth of information to flow in that can make the library’s website a true community resource”.

In this case the wiki may suffer somewhat as a community resource in that it is easy to be directed away from the Doucette Library-specific pages and articles. An effort has been made to supply links back to the “home page“, however the presence of standard Media Wiki style links on the left such as “Recent changes” and “Special pages” serve to guide browsing patrons away from the resource to the larger UofC wiki.

The link to the wiki can be found on the library homepage, where it is clearly marked. Although yet small the resources was easy to understand and use. In style and function the site fits well with the rest of the libraries pages, I would use this resource should i tbe relevant to me. It might be improved by expanding the scope if the resources listed.

The St. Joseph County Public Library’s [Indiana, USA] Subject Guides are a wiki in use on the St. Joseph County Public Library’s web site. The site is hosted on the library’s own servers and employs the Media Wiki software.

The library has adopted a wiki for their subject guides to facilitate quick changes and publishing. Collaboration among contributors extend to librarians within the SJCPL only. However, patrons may post comments in “discussion pages” which are a feature of Media Wiki wikis. They are a place for users to comment on the content posted and are attached to almost every page of the wiki. The librarians have decided to make this wiki a tool for easy updating of subject guides with some on-line contributions from users through the comment pages. Farkas comments: “Even without asking for user input, a wiki allows librarians with little web-savvy to quickly and easily update the subject guide.”

The guides themselves are well formatted and consistent in form. They incorporate external links to internet sites as well as lists of new books in the library appropriate to the subject at hand with thumbnail graphics depicting the covers. There is also information about programs at the library relevant to the subject. Categories, a means of classifying wiki pages in this software implementation, are used extensively to link guides about related subjects. These aid browsers who may discover relevant guides or happen upon something of interest.

The link to the subject guides is readily found on the library’s homepage. I found this to be a clearly laid out resource that seems intuitive. The subjects are set out on the home page and the way forward seems obvious. The service fits well with the other resources available at the library and some effort has been made to match the style of the main library pages and the library wiki. I would use these guides if I were a researcher at SJCPL. The only improvement i might suggest wpuld be to allow for more direct user feedback through editing of the pages of the subject guides.

The Daytona Beach College Library has two branches that support student learning at Daytona Beach College, in Daytona Beach, Florida.

The Daytona Beach College Library Wiki is a resource for library users. The wiki software is hosted by a third party, Wetpaint who hosts wiki free of charge, rather than through the library’s own servers. There is a link from the library’s home page to the wiki, on the home page’s left side, included with links to other resources such as the on-line cataloge.

This wiki acts as the library’s home page as is regularly updated with links. The Wetpaint wiki implementation allows for a blog-like style of posting that is date stamped that are called “threads”. Pages are automatically provided with links to social link-sharing sites: Del.icio.us, Digg, Blue Dot and StumbleUpon. Content on the pages is a bit thin at this time. It is possible that library staff are still getting accustomed to using this site as there appear to be only links to outside internet sources and no indication of in house library sources in the subject guides. It appears as if students are encouraged to contribute to the pages as well although to date there seems to be little input from them. Perhaps this sort of participation from library users is difficult to obtain in the academic library environment. The interface of this wiki is somewhat unwieldy. Although the subject headings are arranged fairly well there is a lot of visual “noise” that I find confusing. The format and style of the wiki is at odds with the style of the library home page and it is difficult to see them as part of the same site. Currently, I would not use this feature of the library site as a user. This could be a useful list of links for school researchers however it needs to be simplified in style and hopefully gather some student contributors to add information to the wiki.

For another example of a librarian facilitated wiki functioning as a series of subject guides see also: St. Joseph County Public Library’s [Indiana, USA] Subject Guides.