Time

10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Location

METRO

Topic

Blogs and Wikis for Reference

A discussion of the use of blogs and wikis in reference work. Stephen Francoeur initiated the discussion with a presentation on the blog that librarians at Baruch College use to learn about new policies, resources, and current questions received at the desk. He also demonstrated the wiki he set up at Baruch that serves as an easily updated reference handbook for Baruch staff. He distinguished between blogs and wikis by noting that blogs are an ideal way to distribute timely information (news, announcements, etc.) and wikis are a good way to share policy and procedures information.

Housekeeping

It was agreed that the Feb. 13, 2006, meeting will be held in the afternoon so that those who have had trouble attending our usual morning meetings would get a break. We may alternate between morning and afternoon meetings.

The Feb. 13, 2006, meeting will discuss whether or not libraries who are currently doing chat reference with expensive web-based software might want to consider using IM clients (for details on IM reference, see the new IM Reference page on this wiki).

Links

• Stephen Francoeur's handout (1 of 2)
• Stephen Francoeur's handout (2 of 2)
• Reference at Newman Library Blog This is the blog that reference staff at the Newman Library at Baruch College maintain.
• Blogs Page in this wiki with details on how libraries are using blogs.
• Wikis Page in this wiki with details on how libraries are using wikis.
• Story Starters. Project launched by David Lankes. Hard to describe, but basically, it seems to be a way to connect blog postings with questions being asked. For details, see http://storystarters.iis.syr.edu/about.php.