LIS 9763

Wikis have many interesting applications in libraries because they provide a forum that brings the community together and they can get the patrons involved.  The library can be an online hub within the community, which is one of suggested uses for wikis in Farkas' Using Wikis to Create Online Communities.  By hosting, in essence, a virtual community bulletin board, the library is establishing itself as place to go for information -- not just for the usual encyclopeadic information usually found in libraries, but all kinds of local and social information.
It is these types of initiatives that will help the library remain a strong and vibrant part of the community in the future.  As people migrate away from the traditional print library resources to the multitude of online information sources, the library needs to evolve and change.  It should still remain a reliable  and user-friendly source of knowledge, but it will need to meet the people where they are -- and where they are (or will be) is on the internet.  The best way to draw people in to the library and to show them what the library has to offer is to provide a way for them to interact with the library and with each other.  Getting people involved will generate much more interest and will help each patron to feel like an important and contributing member of the library community.  A wiki is a fine example of a way to involve the community because it is easy for users to generate their own content, comment on others' work, and be engaged in a dynamic multi-person conversation.
I was particularly intrigued with the Princeton Public Library's BookLoversWiki, as well as the Memories of Ipswich wiki, because both of these found a particular topic of conversation that was of interest to community members.  Sticking with a specific subject, rather than a general all-purpose discussion board, really allows for more in-depth postings.  I think that this allows for a more cohesive wiki community because the writers have much more in common with each other.