To wiki or not to wiki

Last month a colleague and I were talking about how to handle the growing number of commonly asked reference questions that range from “when did Montana become a State?” (November 8, 1889) to “who the first women was to run a state agency?” (Mrs. M. L. Cunningham was appointed Matron-in-charge of the Montana Deaf and Dumb Asylum in 1893) Our conclusion, naturally, was to create a wiki that would allow us to not only answer commonly asked reference questions, with citations, but would also be a resource guide for our collections. After approval from the head of the department and a few conversations with the IT guy my colleague, through PB Wiki, created the Montana History Wiki.

Currently, we only have a small group (4) of staff members working on its creation and in the coming months we are planning on opening up the wiki editing process to other staff members. Since we have decided not open the editing process to the general public (I know it probably goes against wiki logic) we are left with some lingering questions. Our questions range from how do we, as in those who created it, prevent the wiki from slowly going into oblivion? If the public is not directly involved in the editing process, how can we maintain the essence of what a wiki is designed to be? How doe we get feedback from the public? What steps are needed in order to insure that the wiki becomes part of the reference staff routine? How much time do we need to spend on training in order ensure that the staff is comfortable with updating the wiki? What type of guidelines and policies, if any, need to be implemented prior to opening the wiki to other staff members?

If anything our experience will make a good case study on implementing other social software, such as a blog or Fickr, in our library.