One application for a library wiki is to set up a reference query wiki.When students come to the reference desk with their search queries, I often wonder whether other librarians have had to field similar questions. If I encounter a query from an different subject area to law, I am not always sure that I am using the best search strategy. It would be helpful to be able to look up a reference query wiki to see if others have also encountered the same question, and to learn how they dealt with it, including which databases they used, and how successful they thought their search was.
Not only would reference librarians be able to improve their searches in unfamiliar subject areas, but people could add comments and hints on how to target a search better. This type of wiki would be an enormous help to librarians new to reference work.
This would be a collaborative means of improving our search practices and delivering better service to our students who come with reference queries.
3 comments:
Good idea...love the pictures!
Love the pictures - I think wikis are worth investigating further. I would like your comparision with using del.cio.us for the same purposewhen you have done that exercise.
Elle
I agree with Elle. Using either a wiki or del.icio.us for storing good reference query strategies or answers would be very helpful, especially for me, as I have no particular expertise in a specific range of subjects.
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