I am part of several educational wikis so was somewhat familiar with them but not in the public library aspect. The thing that, in my opinion, is important is deciding the use of the wiki and making sure that it is developed with that use in mind. For instance, I really liked the Book Lovers wiki because I knew it was going to be various peoples' opinions about books and the opinions could vary quite widely and I couldn't take any of them as being the 'right' one because they are opinions. It was very interesting to see how various people perceived the same book. However, I have seen students go to Wikipedia as an authoritative source and say that it is the absolute truth. Since anyone can alter a wiki, unless the settings prohibit it, it can't be said that Wikipedia is the absolute truth because the last entry could be from someone who doesn't know the subject matter and or has a 'cause' to promote. I can definitely see the "Book Lovers" type of wiki being used within the public library setting, as long as there is someone who monitors the postings. I also think it would be a nice way to announce library events/new books/items of interest but I would have that wiki as one that only the author can edit. It would also be a neat tool to use with people who are collaborating on the same project but live large distances apart so cannot have face to face meetings. I think they are very useful and allow for a great deal of interaction.
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