Wikis in Action: A Wiki as a Research Guide Chad F. Boeninger Computers in Libraries March 22, 2006

Traditional Research Guides Research guide = subject guide = pathfinder Popular method of disseminating library information Previously had 3 research guides Business Research Guide International Business Research Guide Marketing Research Guide

Traditional Research Guides Redundancy of resources No interlinking Multiple edits of the same content Not searchable No way to measure use Timely updates are difficult

The Wiki Process Installed MediaWiki on our server Added most useful content from old research guides Wiki organization evolved while adding content

The Biz Wiki Organized by area of research need http://www.library.ohiou.edu/subjects/bizwiki/ Organized by area of research need Browse by category or alphabet Searchable by keyword Users can edit/add content Interlinked articles allow for increased access to information

Reference Content Key reference resources Guides to common questions Definitions of terms Examples: Demographics USA Doing Business in Another Country Company Annual Reports

What About the Catalog? Library catalog entry for Exporter’s Encyclopaedia Biz Wiki article for Exporter’s Encyclopaedia

Instruction Content Wikis make excellent teaching tools Replace class handouts Broader scope than class specific handouts Example: Industry Research Basics

On the Fly Content

“On the Fly” Content Answered reference email question Similar question via IM Used content of previous question to create wiki article Answer is out of email and on the web Easier future access to information

Popular Pages Feature Popular Pages See what is being used Useful for collection development See what you need to create more of Automobile Industry Guide

Creating Content Create an article Link to the article from another article Assign a category for the article

Biz Wiki Usage 1 24576 Academic Search Premier 2 6875 Lexis-Nexis Academic 3 3770 ERIC 4 3712 Business Source Premier (BSP) 5 3378 PsycINFO 6 2327 BIOSIS Previews 7 2325 Business and Industry 8 2063 Education Abstracts 9 1970 JSTOR 10 1757 Science Citation Index Expanded 11 1704 Factiva 12 1659 Medline (1966 to the present) 13 1364 General Science Full Text 14 1356WorldCat 15 1313 Biz Wiki 16 1294 RefWorks 17 1271 Hoover's Online 18 1229 Communication & Mass Media Complete 19 1210 Oxford English Dictionary 20 1195 AnyWho Directory January 1-March 2, 2006

Feedback on the Wiki “You weren’t around, so I showed them the Biz Wiki Guide to Doing Business in Another Country, and they were satisfied.”--Reference Librarian “I had no idea how to find a swot analysis, so I just searched for ‘swot’ in the Biz Wiki, and low and behold, you had an article on finding a SWOT analysis.” ---Reference Librarian

Wiki Challenges Getting others to contribute More content = more maintenance Maintaining organization and structure with growth of content Difficult to see new content Spam, Spam, and more Spam MySQL stop words (SIC)

Wiki Strengths Extend the reach of the librarian Promote sources Teach research skills Make the job of the librarian easier Easy to add and edit content

More Wiki Strengths Make information and knowledge more accessible Content is more timely Potential for contributing to the academic learning community

Future of Wikis Wiki/Blog/RSS workshops Promote feedback mechanisms of the wiki Gather input from users (librarians, students, faculty) Record usage of library resources

More Wiki Ideas Student Research Wikis First-year experience wiki Campus collaboration Multi-disciplinary subjects (Latin American Studies/Women’s Studies/Film)

Special Thanks Alden Library Reference Staff Alden Library Systems Staff Numerous Library Bloggers Ohio University Business researchers

Questions??