WIKI - What I Know Is....
I have been concerned about the apparently increasing reliance on Wikipedia over other resources. It certainly is convenient, but my concerns are over who is accountable for the information and what authority do they have on the subject. Depending upon who posted the information, they could be a world-renowned expert on the topic, or someone with an agenda to further.
As long as users clearly understand the source of the information in a wiki, I believe that they can be useful resource, although I would prefer that they be consulted AFTER having checked other known authoritative sources first.
Using a wiki for posting library subject guides, successful practices, etc. is an interesting and promising concept. There is an advantage in being able to quickly share something that worked well for a library, so that others can make use of it. I did notice that the Library Success : a best practices wiki had added a requirement for email confirmation because of vandalism problems. It's sad that this problem would appear at this site, but the email confirmation seems a reasonable way to address it.
I have been concerned about the apparently increasing reliance on Wikipedia over other resources. It certainly is convenient, but my concerns are over who is accountable for the information and what authority do they have on the subject. Depending upon who posted the information, they could be a world-renowned expert on the topic, or someone with an agenda to further.
As long as users clearly understand the source of the information in a wiki, I believe that they can be useful resource, although I would prefer that they be consulted AFTER having checked other known authoritative sources first.
Using a wiki for posting library subject guides, successful practices, etc. is an interesting and promising concept. There is an advantage in being able to quickly share something that worked well for a library, so that others can make use of it. I did notice that the Library Success : a best practices wiki had added a requirement for email confirmation because of vandalism problems. It's sad that this problem would appear at this site, but the email confirmation seems a reasonable way to address it.
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