How to Build and Use a Wiki in Your Library

Are you thinking about taking the plunge into the planet of web two. with your library and generating a wiki? I lately put with each other a thriving wiki for my college library and so I would like to share some achievement ideas 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 differ in terms of ease of use, price tag, and setup as effectively as the ability to control 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 method of organizing and altering material on your web site? Or do you want to use the wiki to allow your patrons to interact with each other?

3. What is the precise objective for your wiki? To communicate amongst library employees? To communicate with your patrons? To let Hidden wiki link communicate with each and every other?

4. What content material are you going to involve on your wiki? Just hyperlinks to other pages on your library net web site, a searchable library catalog, data about library classes and events, common books, news and announcements or other things?

five. Do you want to spend for a wiki service or do you want to use a free wiki?

6. Is there a tech assistance individual readily available to assistance you install your wiki and to help 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 preserving a wiki? A wiki is a lot less complicated to use and hold up with on a common site, having said that, you can’t just put it up and by no means commit time functioning on it.

7. It also helps if you can develop some wiki specific content material. In our case we made topic pages for every of the big subjects taught at our college and integrated hyperlinks to databases, magazines, books, ebooks, specialized encyclopedias and internet websites for every topic. 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 explanation to read the wiki and to use it.

8. Wikis are one particular of the technologies of the future and as far more and much more libraries and other companies start working with them, it is to your benefit to learn how to use one particular and to choose if it is suitable for your library.