Library:When to Use the Wiki

From UBC Wiki

When to Use the Wiki

These guidelines are still in flux as the Library website continues to be developed, but these general guidelines should help you decide when to use the wiki, wordpress, or the Library Toolkit (LTK).

For the Wiki

The wiki is likely best for pages where you answer yes to one or more of the following questions:

  • Is this a general topic (not specific to a subject or branch)?
  • Would you or others like to create a PDF of the information?
  • Would multiple people have something useful to contribute?
  • Are you collaborating with others?
  • Does this page need to be updated frequently?
  • Do multiple people/branches want to use more or less the same content?
  • Is your content not considered "library policy"?

Examples: How to... pages, such as "How to Find Newspapers" or "How to Search Databases". Note that templates can be made so that all the instructions are the same, but examples can be modified to fit specific subject areas.

For Staff Intranet

Documents and information related internal committees, working groups, and other internal units, should be in the staff intranet, except in the case that people outside of the library are involved, such as faculty and community members.

For LTK

Similar to the toby Subject Guide, the new LTK is designed basically for Subject (e.g. Education), Topic (e.g. Building Codes/Standards), and Course Guides, which is specialized content. Generally, if you are providing a list of useful resources, then you should be using the LTK. The LTK is also being used for Faculty Publications lists. The Research Guides Portal is the current access point for all published guides in LTK (and toby until they've all been migrated).

The big advantage to listing resources in the LTK is the integration with infopages. On the other hand, if you want the list of resources to be available through two or more of wiki, wordpress, and LTK, then you might consider putting it into the wiki as it can then be pulled into all three. If you're unsure, please feel free to contact web services for a quick consult.

For WordPress

Remember that wiki pages can be displayed as a WordPress (WP) page. If you are planning to use a wiki page in a WordPress site, remember that WordPress will do the styling for you, so you don't have to do it yourself.

You should use WordPress for any:

  • Blogs
  • News & Announcement pages
  • Static (non-changing) content pages needing very restricted access (only editors of the WP site can edit the page)

A reminder that Library space wiki pages are viewable by the public, but editing is restricted to library staff only. By "very restricted access", this refers to material that is sensitive and should not be edited by anyone aside from 1-2 people in a particular department.

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