Week 7 wiki

I discovered wikipedia about a year ago because of a patron who frequently calls the Reference Desk with interesting questions about famous people. He wanted to know what religion Arnold Palmer practices. I was excited to find some information that might suggest what religion he believes in. I think wikipedia is helpful as long as the information added can be verified. I often hesitate to offer information from wikipedia because I worry about how accurate the information is. I do find it very helpful when I can't find biography information on the Biography Reference Center database.

When I explored the suggested wikis on the Discovery exercises, I was excited to find a wiki about the ALA 2008 conference going on from June 26-July 2. I have always dreamed about attending an ALA conference. I plan to attend one hopefully when I celebrate my 10th year anniversary with PBCLS. I know that the budget will not pay for my way to go, but, I think that it is one of my personal long range career goals. I am not a member of ALA yet, and I keep saying that I am going to join, I haven't done it yet. I must put this on my short term goals and try and join by the end of the year. I enjoyed looking at the Flikr pictures from the conference and the Technorati from the conference. There are so many pictures uploaded that I plan to spend more time looking at the information that is available there.

I also looked at the Bull Run Public Library wiki which is the a public library in Prince William County, VA. There I searched for books by two of my favorite fiction authors and 2 non-fiction subjects. I was able to see how many and where in the system they can be found. I suppose a wiki would lead people to our website, but I think going to our website is the best thing. It's nice to see what other libraries have to offer. For more information on Prince William County check out the wiki.
http://www.pwcgov.org/default.aspx?topic=010010001090002560

Also, I found of interest under the project management subject a strategic plan from the Durham County Library. See wiki link for more information.
http://dclstrategicplan.pbwiki.

I would love for PBCLS to have a Circulation wiki and a Reference wiki where we can share information. Maybe on our website we could offer weblinks where authors talk about upcoming books that they have written or maybe talk about how they got their first book published. I think with technology we need to keep up with what's out there and share it with our patrons. Lots of people still don't know how much we have to offer on our website now. I enjoy wikis and I will explore them whenever time permits.