Wiki ex Libris
Hmmm....how useful is a wiki to a Library? I mean I can see that larger Libraries with a big enough patron base could use such a thing to great effect. I, on the other hand, live in a gray town of under 2000. Many of my patrons are surprisingly tech savvy but few and far between are those that really LOVE the internet. Many of them decry us using a computer catalog as too complicated.
Of course this makes my left eye throb a little but I understand that if you don't understand how something works then no matter how much better it may be; it's bad. So I try and explain and some of them get it and some don't and some seem to choose not to. That's fine too. Part of my job is finding books for people.
So what are the odds of getting anyone ELSE working on a wiki I put up? Pretty small in my honest opinion. Now that's not to say I couldn't be wrong or that I won't give it a try. The ease of editing and cross linking makes a wiki a very powerful tool.
Yet as I think about it what seems amazingly clever to me is quickly becoming scenery for those younger than I am. For someone under 20 the Web has pretty much always been there and working with it is as normal as reading a book or talking on the phone.
So...anyone have any good ways to encourage young people to come in to the Library?
~0ps
Of course this makes my left eye throb a little but I understand that if you don't understand how something works then no matter how much better it may be; it's bad. So I try and explain and some of them get it and some don't and some seem to choose not to. That's fine too. Part of my job is finding books for people.
So what are the odds of getting anyone ELSE working on a wiki I put up? Pretty small in my honest opinion. Now that's not to say I couldn't be wrong or that I won't give it a try. The ease of editing and cross linking makes a wiki a very powerful tool.
Yet as I think about it what seems amazingly clever to me is quickly becoming scenery for those younger than I am. For someone under 20 the Web has pretty much always been there and working with it is as normal as reading a book or talking on the phone.
So...anyone have any good ways to encourage young people to come in to the Library?
~0ps
In relation to the last line .. our Y.A. section is getting a heavy workout (don't know if it has brought more people in though).
ReplyDeleteOur "web presence" stuff (FLICKR), delicious, and our "local features" is an attempt to engage users where they are. Last weekend I answered a reference query from the Netherlands which came about because of those "local features."