Web Site of the Month--Library Success A Best Practices Wiki

www.libsuccess.org

“A one-stop-shop for great ideas for librarians.” That’s what Meredith Farkas hopes will develop from her recently launched wiki, Library Success. Farkas, a distance-learning librarian at Norwich University, in Northfield, VT, created Library Success this summer as a follow-up to a successful wiki she had devised for the June American Library Association conference in Chicago. Wikis, online resources that allow any user to freely edit or add content, can enhance the library community by giving professionals an outlet for sharing their good advice and insights, she says. “No one should have to reinvent the wheel when another librarian has already done what they’re trying to accomplish.” The site receives about 40,000 page views a month, says Farkas, who notes that some topics, such as virtual reference, gaming, and Web design, receive many contributions, while others, including school library subjects, still don’t have any content. “I think school librarians have a lot to offer the wiki and the library community,” she says. “Library Success is also a great, nonthreatening environment in which to test-drive a wiki, because the wiki is run and developed by their colleagues.”