One of my colleagues forwarded me this email from her son in college. She had sent this around to the rest of our reference department as well, hoping to get answers from our staff. Her son writes: Hey Mom, I've got a kinda silly reference librarian question for you concerning the validity and accuracy of... Continue Reading →
A Wiki for 6 Strings
I was looking for some *cough* free *cough* guitar tabulature for a particular song that our church praise band is playing on Sunday. I checked out the usual guitar tabulature sites, and then discovered The Tab Wiki. After poking around a bit, I was pleased to see that there were a few songs from The... Continue Reading →
Biz Wiki Update
Fall quarter starts at my university in two weeks, and I think the Biz Wiki should be ready for prime time by then. I had a test run two weeks ago when I introduced the wiki to a class of business communication students. In looking at the most popular pages in the Biz Wiki, many... Continue Reading →
New Library Blog
Scott Pfitzinger has a new blog. He writes on his original blog: I have decided to create a new blog. Its purpose is to contribute to the professional discussions about how technology is affecting libraries and learning. This will also allow me to keep my professional and personal blog posts separate. Not that the personal... Continue Reading →
How Wikis Work
I went to one of my favorite sites, HowStuffWorks, to find out, well, how something worked. Upon arrival I noticed that Marshal Bain had an article about How Wikis Work. It's a pretty good read for anyone intersted in wikis or for those needing basic information about how they work.
Learning from Wikis
I am continuing to add content to the Biz Wiki, although a great bulk of my three research guides is now in the wiki. In working with the wiki I am learning a great deal about how to better organize information, and I am becoming more familiar with some key business resources. On Monday the... Continue Reading →
Anaylyzing Wikipedia
Rochelle fiords the "dangerous waters" of Wikipedia: The ironic thing is that the Wikipedia is the best example we have of pure peer review. There is nothing posted on the Wikipedia that is not vetted by a cast of thousands, including lots of accredited Smart Peopleâ„¢. Writing in the Wikipedia is like writing an article... Continue Reading →
Using Wikis In Reference
Butler University Libraries has a Reference wiki: WikiRef is a collaborative review of databases, books, websites, etc., that are part of the collection of Reference Resources available at or via the Butler University Libraries. It functions like a Reference User's Group that facilitates discussion between and the empowering of reference users. Butler librarians, faculty, staff,... Continue Reading →
Food for Thought
Excerpt from "Bloggers learn the price of telling too much" from CNN: "I know this very conspiracy theorist -- but I wouldn't put it past a clever criminal to warehouse different databases and wait 20 years when all the Internet youth's indiscretions can be used for surreptitious purposes," says the senior at California State Polytechnic... Continue Reading →