[Web4lib] Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki

[John Hubbard]

Colleagues,

Well I think the notion of a "war" is a bit harsh.  I for one am not 
looking to conquer anything (well, besides ignorance).

As Blake could certainly tell you, there are other library blogs out 
there besides LISNews, made by librarians who wish to have their own 
separate or specialized web presence. This makes for a richer landscape 
and has a few other benefits.

To restate my earlier announcement and its about page, LISWiki was 
established to provide an open and collaborative environment for library 
fans to build a community repository of information about library terms, 
issues, and practices.  For those that think it's as pointless, that's 
fine.  But anyone interested in sharing information on their areas of 
interest or expertise is welcome to contribute to or create entries.

LISWiki was launched with a bare-bones structure to give users -- 
especially those from a profession built around organizing information 
-- maximum power to craft it.  I don't know what's going to happen with 
it.  I'm not looking for sponsors or anything; it's an experiment that 
I'm just having fun with.

I've been in touch with Meredith about LISWiki (since before 
libsuccess.org was created) and understand that she wants to focus on a 
more specialized Wiki on best practices.

My main concern at this point is avoiding crossovers that cause people 
to feel like they have to do double editing or reading.  Time will tell 
how these redundancies get handled, but again on the whole "war" idea, I 
don't see the two sites so much competing as both exploring the sizable 
potential of what librarians can do with Wikis.

Wikipedia is now one of the most visited sites on the Internet.  If you 
missed the blog explosion of years past, this is your chance not to miss 
the growth of Wikis.

Best,
John

-- 
John Hubbard
Electronic Resources Librarian
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
414-229-6775




Blake Carver wrote:
> 1-2-3-4 I declare a Wiki War!
> 
> Personally I prefer liswiki.com because it's wide open and can cover just
> about anything dealing with LIS things. LISWiki can cover best practices,
> and much more. The Library Success is focused, which is a good thing as
> well. There's nothing wrong with either approach, though I find the more
> general nature of LISWiki more useful. Generally I think wikis do better
> if they're more general.
> 
> So I say every librarian with a good idea (and some free time) can
> contributing to both! That's the good thing about wikis.
> 
> -Blake Carver
> LISNews.com & LISHost.org
> and in no way affiliated with LISWiki or LISPodcasts
> 
> 
> Alec:
> 
>>I think the Library Success wiki will win out, if it comes to that.
>>Unlike the other, the Library Success wiki has a clearer purpose.
> 
> 
> Bill:
> 
>>Actually, I see no purpose to the www.LISwiki.com site at all.  The
>>Library Success site has a central idea and focus that will attract
>>content and users.
> 
> 
> David:
> 
>>Shouldn't every librarian with a good idea also be contributing to the
>>Library and Information Science Wiki (http://www.liswiki.com) started by
>>John Hubbard? Will there be a wiki war or a wiki merger? Interesting that
>>they're both using the same software that powers Wikipedia.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -Blake Carver
> LISNews.com
> 
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