Now for my conclusions.
What did I find interesting? As always, I found the information interesting. I always find something that interests me! I also appreciated the book recommendations I found.
It is both good and bad that wikis are so democratic in terms of who is providing the information. I spent some time on Wiki Answers looking up hamsters, and there was a GREAT DEAL of variation in the quality of the answers provided. (The most interesting question was what a person should do if their baby hamsters were hiding in a wall and wouldn't come out, by the way. The answer: put out some hamster food in the area where you want the baby hamsters to come.)
The more official library wikis seemed to only permit certain people to edit the wiki, which would provide more accurate information.
What types of applications within libraries might work well with a wiki?
The most obvious choice would be for a library to use a wiki for book
recommendations, bibliographies and book discussions. A wiki would also work well for pathfinders - either for student assignments or helping adults figure out how to do a job search, locate community services or find people (birth parents or old classmates). Examples would be the Book Lust wiki or the Rebecca Caudill/Battle of the Books wiki that I found.
I also like the idea of creating a wiki library web site that can only be updated by staff members IF it is attractive, clear and easy to read, and can be used/navigated intuitively.
And a wiki could work very well for staff, policy and training manuals, assuming that it would only be edited by specific individuals.
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