[Web4lib] Problems with Wikipedia

[Lars Aronsson]

Michael McCulley wrote:

> There are a tremendous number of Wikipedia backers and supporters, all hail
> to them; but, for the majority of librarians, it should be approached with a
> professionalism that requires the information be considered "suspect." The
> reason: anyone can change anything in Wikipedia at any time; it doesn't

Now you are implicitly saying that *other* sources (printed books) 
*are* inherently reliable.  But are they?  Is this a professional 
assumption?  Do librarians read and fact-check every book before 
it is made available on the open shelves?  Exactly which approach 
or attitude is the professional one, here?  Maybe the real benefit 
of Wikipedia is that it forces us to ask this question.


-- 
  Lars Aronsson (lars at aronsson.se)
  Aronsson Datateknik - http://aronsson.se