North Metro Tech Library Reference Wiki

Meanwhile, back at the ranch . . .

Hello. Last week I decided to create a reference wiki for North Metro Technical College Library, North Metro Tech Reference Home. You may, or may not, be asking yourself why. There are several reasons for doing this.

1. This is a useful tool for the librarians at NMTC. We are not always working at the same time. One of us may help a patron with a unencountered area of need and forget (gasp) to tell the other. This wiki allows each of us to examine ways that the other has been helping our patrons.

2. The wiki will prove a useful off campus tool. Hopefully, the wiki will be a site that patrons can access from home to avoid an unnecessary trip to campus. There will be lots of 'how to's' on the wiki, along with general and basic information about the library.

3. This wiki is separate and apart from the Policies and Procedures NMTC wiki at North Metro Technical College Library Policies and Procedures. Yes, some of the information may be redundant. However, I hope that this new wiki will enable you the patron to access information on how to use library resources and also to get help when a librarian just may not be available (namely at 2:00 a.m.).

4. Other college and university libraries have developed their own reference wikis. This one will be unique, as the others are already unique, and its aims, purposes, services may not exactly match up to those of other libraries.

The format I selected to use for the wiki was Wetpaint. Comparing it to Wikispaces, I felt that it was more easily edited and updated. However, one drawback to Wetpaint is that there is some commercialization in the form of banners. I do hope that these banners will not become too much of a distraction.

The wiki will be a long work in progress and will never truly be finished. Stay tuned . . .

JWF