wishful wiki thinking (#3)

This morning I attended a presentation on the pressing problem of "knowledge transfer". This afternoon, working away on the learning 2.0 program, I was asked to ponder how libraries might usefully employ wikis. And so I've come to ponder whether wikis might in any way be useful as a way to capture at least some of the knowledge of our many more experienced librarians before they retire.

As a relatively inexperienced librarian this idea has great appeal. Faced with a baffling reference inquiry I could tap into the "wiki of wisdom" for instant, easy access to information my colleagues have toiled for years to accumulate. If only!

In reality, I know I will have to toil long and hard to accumulate my own wealth of experience, knowledge and library-know-how. This is not just because I realise that although wikis can be great for sharing all kinds of information, there is no substitute for experience. It is also because I realise that although newbie librarians like myself would have much to gain from a "wiki of wisdom", the very librarians who we would want to put the most work into adding valuable information to the wiki would likely be the ones who would gain the least from its creation, are often least comfortable with Web2.0 computing, and have the largest, most pressing workloads.

Despite this, I think wikis have great potential for application in libraries. As the NLA has shown, they are an easy way to share information across a large organization, with many advantages over shared drives and intranets. They lend themselves to the sharing of resources and references, tips and tricks, policies and procedures, facts and figures, and even (perhaps) accounts of projects past. So, potentially, wikis could play some small part in knowledge transfer, particularly if more experienced staff are given the time and encouragement to do so.

On a completely different note, a wiki could also be a great way to allow staff from across the library to contribute new ideas for continually improving the library. This would allow conversations about what staff think could be changed and improved, where anyone from any team, and from any level within the library could have a place to put their bright ideas, some of which just might be gems. Wikis would generally be great tools for getting conversations happening across the divisions, between staff that might otherwise rarely interact, and that would be fantastic.