Wikis for Libraries is part of The Tech Set series edited by Ellyssa Kroski. The series is marketed as a practical toolkit to enable librarians to get up to speed with new technologies and equip them with the knowledge to implement them in their own libraries. This book aims to act as a guide both for wiki novices and seasoned pros, for use either as a step‐by‐step comprehensive guide, or as a reference guide.
The author is a blogger (see http://laurenpressley.com/library/) and presenter on library technologies and has herself used wikis in a number of different ways both for her work as Head of Instruction at Z. Smith Reynolds Library, Wake Forest University, and in her professional involvement with the American Library Association.
The book takes the reader through the process of developing a wiki from start to finish, with chapters covering planning, implementation, marketing, best practices and measures of success. It begins with a comprehensive introduction to wikis, charting their history, outlining the benefits of using a wiki, and explaining the different elements of a wiki. The illustrations in this section will be of particular use to novices, since they identify the components of a wiki both from a published page view and from the editing page view. The book also includes discussion on the underlying culture of wikis – information about the value and pitfalls of crowd sourced information such as that held on large community wikis like Wikipedia.
A detailed discussion on planning a wiki is included, covering different uses of wikis in libraries including content management, collaborative workspace, reference resource, and training guide – each of which is accompanied by an example. This will be useful for those who have used wikis for one specific purpose but have not considered them for others. Different options for hosting your wiki are also explained – local versus vendor hosting – and a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of each option is presented, which will be of particular interest to libraries without dedicated technical support staff.
Implementation, a key part of any wiki project, is addressed in the substantial third chapter of the book. This is written in a similarly practical way to the rest of the book, and takes the reader through a series of “how to” guides for wikis with different purposes. Each “how to” guide contains information about the options to consider for a wiki of this particular type and many have real‐life examples to help contextualise the advice given. The chapter closes with a section about contributing to wikis, including how to make improvements to the information in Wikipedia. Following such guidance could serve as an effective starting point for those less familiar with wikis, before they embark upon creating their own.
Methods of marketing are considered next; emphasis is placed on the importance of knowing your intended audience (i.e. internal/external, level of experience). Marketing options discussed include links from other web sites, flyers/publications, programming (e.g. training sessions), one‐on‐one sessions, launch parties, and social media. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion on how to create a marketing plan, though this lacks detail and could be expanded upon.
A wiki marketing plan is hailed as one of a number of best practice guidelines for wiki projects, together with robust plans for rollout, training, maintenance, migration and preservation. For each plan the author has included areas the library will need to consider, though the chapter is theoretical in nature and does not share any examples of actual plans that may be, or have been, used.
The final chapter covers measures for success in wiki implementation. This will be of particular importance to those implementing an experimental wiki or those wanting to evaluate a current wiki. The chapter gives some example questions which could be used in surveys, focus groups or interviews to gain a better understanding of the use of a wiki from the user perspective. It also includes key signs to look for as indicators of a wiki's success, such as the wiki becoming embedded as part of the organisational culture rather than being maintained as a separate project.
The book recommends related reading in the form of other books, book chapters, web sites and cited articles. Appropriately, there is also a companion wiki supporting the book, which has updates from the author on technological developments since the book was first published, ensuring that advice remains valid as wiki technology continues to evolve.
The real strength of the book is in the practical examples and comprehensive explanations of different options for how wikis might be implemented and used, particularly so in the planning and implementation chapters which offer detailed information on various different types of wikis and installation options. One weakness of the book is the lack of example planning documents; the suggestions of areas to consider should assist in the planning process but it would be beneficial to see some actual example plans. The book also skims over the technical elements; it would be useful to see some indication of the level of technical expertise required for different roles, for example wiki markup language for editors. Due to the chronological structure of the book, an example wiki project from start to finish as an ongoing case study throughout all chapters would enhance its value for those reading the book as a whole.
The practical focus of the book makes it particularly useful to library practitioners, especially those currently using wikis or planning to use them in future. Whether approaching wikis as a complete novice or a competent user, there will be tips and advice to take from the book which may not have previously been considered.
