Library Wikis

Final Presentation LIS 60003Ellen Armstrong

Wiki – a definition

•“a free encyclopedia that anyone can edit” (from LISwiki)

•wikis from a Hawaiian word which means “quick” or “very fast” - School Library Journal,

5/1/2007

Common Uses• Library staff training &

communication tool• Professional development for

librarians• Sharing information and best

practices within consortiums or types of libraries

Well Known Wikis

• Wikipedia– Most well known wiki

• LibSucess– A best practices wiki

• LISWiki– Library & Information

Science Wiki

Wikis created by libraries

• University of Minnesota Library Staff Wiki– Staff info pages

• Learning 2.0 @EKU Libraries – Shared web 2.0 resources

• First People’s Library Wiki– Sharing best practices for

serving indigenous groups

Search Engines

• Web search: Google• Meta search: All The Web• Search terms: “libraries”,

“wiki”, joined with Boolean AND

• Search strategies: building blocks/simple search

Criteria for relevance

• Either library or librarians in title or description

• Wiki in title, description or URL

Search ResultsGoogle Alltheweb

Results examined

30 30

Relevant hits 24 27

Precision Rate 80% 90%

Academic Search Complete

• Strategy: pearl growing/building blocks

• Search terms: librar* AND wiki AND DE “wikis (computer science)” AND DE “libraries”

• Criteria for relevance:– Wiki and librar* in subject terms

or titles– Appears to discuss use of wikis in

libraries according to abstract

Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts• Strategy: pearl

growing/building blocks• Search terms: librar* AND wiki

AND DE “Wiki (computer science)” AND DE “librarians”

• Criteria for relevance: – wiki and librar* in subject terms

or titles– Appears to discuss use of wikis in

libraries according to abstract

Search ResultsLISTA ASC

Results examined

13 15

Relevant hits 12 14

Precision Rate 92% 93%

CitationsAchterman, D. (2006). Making connections with blogs and wikis. CSLA Journal, 30(1), 29-31.

Balas, J. L. (2006). The social ties that bind. Computers in Libraries, 26(2), 39-41.

Barack, L. (2006). ALA sponsors tech boot camp. School Library Journal, 52(7), 20-20.

Bell, S. J. (2007). Time to lose the sticky and try a wiki. Reference Librarian, 47(98), 101-105.

Blummer, B. (2005). Opportunities for librarians: Experiments with social software. Journal of Access Services, 3(4), 1-12.

Chase, D. (2007). Transformative sharing with instant messaging, wikis, interactive maps, and flickr. (cover story). Computers in Libraries, 27(1), 7-56.

Cohen, S. M. (2006). Anyone can take a reservation. Public Libraries, 45(1), 29-31.

Eden, B. (2007). Essential resources. Library Technology Reports, 43(6), 8-12.

Farkas, M. (2007). Balancing THE online LIFE. (cover story). American Libraries, 38(1), 42-45.

Fichter, D. (2006). Using wikis to support online collaboration in libraries. Information Outlook, 10(1), 30-31.

Frumkin, J. (2005). The wiki and the digital library. OCLC Systems & Services, 21(1), 18-22.

Gordon, R. S., & Stephen, M. (2007). Putting wikis into play. Computers in Libraries, 27(2), 42-43.

K. I. (2005). Library success A best practices wiki. School Library Journal, 51(10), 26-26.

King, D. L., & Porter, M. (2007). Collaborating with wikis. Public Libraries, 46(2), 32-35.

Mattison, D. (2003). Quickiwiki, swiki, twiki, zwiki and the plone wars. Searcher, 11(4), 32.

Powell, A. (2007). That bloggin' pneumonia! Library Journal, 132(10), 88-88.

Webb, J. (2005). Editorial: Information technology dissonance. American Library Association.

Normalized Recall RatesGoogle Alltheweb LISTA ASC

Retrieved Results

30 30 13 15

Number of relevant results retrieved

24 27 12 14

Precision Rate

80% 90% 92.3% 93.3%

Normalized recall rate

27.3% 30.7% 13.6% 15.9%

Searches

• Search strategies: all combined “libraries” AND “wiki”

• Wikis are easily editable web pages (requiring no HTML)

• Used by libraries for a variety of purposes

Questions welcome!