Wikis are very applicable to my workplace. An intranet based wiki would be a great resource for the information desk staff as it would free up space on the noticeboard and in the communications/day book. The possibilities are endless - but I imagine that it might include information on opening/closing procedures, passwords, databases and troubleshooting issues. It would be a very handy resource for part time and casual staff who may not be in the library on a daily basis or able to attend library meetings.
A wiki would greatly benefit our department. Our department receives queries on a regular basis, some of which are repeated and in terms of their answers, don’t change. A wiki would allow team members to search to see if a query had already been answered and the tools that were used in the answer, to add content (such as answers to new queries) and to edit existing content. A wiki has the potential to reduce the amount of time team members spend on queries and to get an answer to the customer in a more timely manner. It takes the knowledge (and answers) that we have in our heads and documents this information creating a rich resource for other team members and new staff.
I’m keen to raise this with my team, I'm not sure whether the wikis should be hosted externally or use wiki software on our server. There are other issues requiring thought such as IT considerations, who contributes and edits what information, version control etc.
I looked at a few things on Wikipedia - I found the entries interesting and seemingly accurate but it still bothers me that anyone can create and edit entries. The Information Today article provides insightful views on academia, Wikipedia and information literary - reference librarians probably have a role to play here too.
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