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Wikis in the Workplace:
How Wikis Can Help Manage Knowledge in Library Reference Services
Angela Kille
Graduate Student
School of Information
The University of Texas at Austin

Abstract
This article explores how wikis can be used in library reference services to manage knowledge and why they should be used in this environment. The article begins with a description of wikis, then covers knowledge management and the systems that support knowledge management, specifically collaborative and conversational technologies. Next, the author discusses how wikis can be used as a knowledge management system and explores the organizational applications. Finally, a discussion follows on how wikis can be used to support knowledge management in library reference services with some examples of wikis as both private and public knowledge repositories and as collaborative workspaces.

Introduction
Named after the Hawaiian term for “quick,” wikis are interactive Web sites to which users can contribute. In a wiki, any user with a Web browser can add entirely new pages or add new content to existing pages, as well as change or delete existing information. Users can also edit the organization of the wiki, in addition to the content, and need not know HTML or have Web design skills since Web-based forms provide the simple editing interface. The software that runs a wiki is called a wiki engine and there are many free open source wiki engines available to run wikis (e.g., MediaWiki), as well as online wiki providers who will host a wiki for you, (e.g., Seedwiki). Although some wikis are intended for the public, like Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org) or Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki (http://www.libsuccess.org), this technology is now being adopted by organizations as a collaborative tool for managing knowledge among their employees. A wiki can be used in multiple ways as a conversational knowledge...