Matchmaking with WikiMatrix

According to www.georgia-demographics.com, the Royston Public Library serves a city of 2,574 residents, a 69.9% white and 25.7% black population. In my experience as a life-long patron and part-time employee, I can attest to (roughly) those findings; however, it’s worthwhile to note that we also have many Hispanic citizens as regular patrons. Median household income in Royston in 2013 was $2, 484, yet 34.3% of citizens were considered to be living in poverty. In my opinion, user groups which most frequently participate in library services and events are homeschool families, other families with young children, and low-income residents.

The library itself recently moved into the renovated, revamped city hall building. The more modern facility is stunning, and it, along with the added technology (more patron computers, a coin-operated print station, and a new copy machine) and added services (computer classes and new books), has increased library use exponentially over the last year. Funding for the new building came in the form of grant money and a generous donation by Ms. Roberta Brown, though these improvements and successes have cost the library, and it struggles on a pretty tight budget.

Goal of a Library Wiki:

Considering that its most frequent users are families with children (including homeschool families), I think a Wiki for the Royston Library would be most beneficial in connecting homeschool moms and other parents. Parents could contribute their ideas to the library’s Homeschool Program and weekly Storytimes. The wiki could also provide a compilation of educational material for young learners.

Wiki Requirements:

Primarily, the wiki needs to be very user-friendly (both for patrons and for a small library staff with intermediate technology skills) and very affordable. Furthermore, I would like the page to be open to the public for adding and editing.

It's a Match!:

Many of the features displayed by WikiMatrix are foreign to me; however, to the best of my knowledge, Wikidot would work well for the Royston Library. It emphasizes “collaboration, community and social elements, extensibility and ease of participation,” and has many features compatible with the library wiki's goals.

-                Free!

-                Good usability and well-organized/pleasing aesthetic, customizable design

-                Security/anti-spam features

-                Hosted, with commercial support available

-                Easy communication through email notification, blogs, forums, image

                galleries, threaded comments, RSS Feeds etc.

Obviously, sacrifices must be made. In this case, I think the most important one would be WYSIWYG, which is supposed to be easier on the non-tech savvy. I’m not familiar with this and don’t have a good idea of how significantly it would impact the end-user experience.