Wikis
I viewed several library wiki examples & found that some were more user-friendly than others.
I liked the BookLoversWiki for its reviews. I found the homepage layout to be very text heavy, though. The featured review is a good idea, but I didn’t like that everything is in bold print! Using the wiki to “create a snapshot in time” of what club members read during the summer was a fun idea. I could see a similar type of wiki being used for a teen reading game. Posting peer reviews & placing them into genres would give the teens a new way to connect to books.
The Grand Rapids Public Library wiki is great. I found the layout very straight-forward. I would imagine that it’s almost a full-time job to maintain it, though! Creating genre book lists for patrons is always a good idea. They cut back on text by simply listing the book title & linking it to the library catalog. From there, a patron could read a review of the book. The only downside is that the more you click, the more likely you are to lose and/or frustrate a patron.
The Bronxville Library gives out genre reading guides for adults, teen, & children. Placing these lists into a wiki and linking it to the site would make for a nice addition for patrons. I would suggest providing at least 5 books with reviews within each genre. “New to the shelves” or such. Then have a list of suggested authors and titles.
The GRPLprovides a tremendous amount of information on their wiki. I like that they include book covers– some patrons like to have a visual in their head of what they are looking for before they come into the library. Clicking on the book cover also leads to the catalog. Another good decision. As are the lists for web resources and related pages.
The Loudoun County Public Library wiki almost seems like a library homepage. They list events happening at libraries throughout the country. They also list articles of interest. A wiki would be the better tool to use (rather than a blog) — especially if you want to list & subdivide into topics. A wiki could probably be used by smaller libraries looking to set up a library homepage.
The wiki I visit the most remains Wikipedia. You just can’t beat that search box!
