Wiki Who?

     Alas, another technology I know very little about. My knowledge of a wiki is limited to Wikipedia, so in order to get a good grasp on the wiki concept and its varied uses, I consulted the Sodt and Summey (2009) article as well as the Munoz (2012) article. I chose to focus on the mentions of their potential for use in an academic library. The possibilities range from internal use by library staff for project collaboration (Stodt and Summey, 2009) to the publishing of materials for student use.
     The library I would be creating a wiki for is a small academic library that serves a population composed of undergraduate, non-traditional adult, and graduate students, many of whom are distance learners. Funds for this project are virtually non-existent due to budget constraints. There are eight full-time staff members and two part-time employees.
     The goal of the wiki would be to provide a dedicated space for the posting of relevant information for students in regards to their classes. The emphasis would be placed on highlighting library resources available for class assignments and research. The wiki would also need to provide the ability for students and faculty members to comment and leave feedback.
     After answering the questions in the Wiki Choice Wizard at wikimatrix.org, I found that a wiki with the following specifics would best suit the needs of the library: a hosted offer with its own domain providing commercial support that allowed corporate branding. A page history and WYSIWYG editing are also necessary requirements. The field was narrowed down to a list of eleven wikis that would satisfy the requirements. I then did the side-by-side comparisons to further eliminate some of the contenders, and ultimately chose Wikispaces because of the educationally focused version. I also noticed after investigating the actual site, that a Wikispaces Campus version is offered should the university itself decide to create a wiki. The cost is only $1,000 a year for 100 users, which would be more than sufficient for our size school.

References

Stodt, J.M. & Summey, T.P. (2009). Beyond the library's walls: using library 2.0 tools to
     reach out to all users. Journal of Library Administration, 49, 97-109.

Wikimatrix. (n.d.). Retrieved May 20, 2015, from http://www.wikimatrix.org/

Wikispaces. (2015). Retrieved May 20, 2015, from http://www.wikispaces.com/