Library Success

Other than being a very plain looking website, I like Library Success. I see that it is moderated by Meredith Farkas, the author of "Social Software in Libraries" so it's got to be good.

A link there to online training resources took me to Web Junction. What I found interesting was their online course offerings. Some were free and for most the charge was nominal. Coming from an online learning environment (Rutgers Online MLIS program), I found it refreshing that there were alternatives to online learning other than college programs.

About the only thing that makes me cautious about wikis is the very thing that makes them appealing: anyone can add to them. This is not so much a concern when they're password/key protected, but wiki purists will say that this defeats the entire purpose of a wiki. Some claim that they are self-moderated & policed by their members and that vandalism is quickly corrected. But I'm still a little sceptical.

I still think that they're a great tool for online collaboration, and have emailing a Word doc or PPT presentation back-and-forth beat. They put the richness of web design within the typical users' reach, and are inherently simple to use.

Wiki as Collaboration Tool

I had to do a presentation recently with a colleague in my Rutgers class on library management. We could have done a PowerPoint presentation, but since all of our classes are online, this would have necessitated emailing the PPT file back-and-forth as each of us made our contributions to it.

Instead we chose to do a wiki. Each "slide" was done as another page in the wiki. My partner was able to go in anytime and make additions or deletions, and so was I. No need to email a file every time changes were made.

For the actual class presentation, the URL for the wiki & the key were emailed to the rest of the class and instructor. The wiki made for both easy collaboration during its creation, and easy viewing for the rest of the class. Mo messy downloads of files!