Wikipedia Power

The world of information is overwhelming. Our lives are inundated with information from every angle. Our ears and eyes are perhaps the most inundated. Whether it's sitting on a train listening to someone talking about their life drama (hey, isn't that news?) or listening to Morning Edition on NPR or watching TV News or reading the review of the Harry Potter book before you were allowed to read it!

Yet another entry into the world of information is Wikipedia. The free encyclopedia that all of us can contribute to in one way or another- even though our contribution may not be trustworthy or accurate. What many do not realize is that Wikipedia is also being used as a source of current and up-to-date news. An example of this would be the Wikipedia page for the recent TAM airline crash in Brazil that killed 200 people. What intrigues me about this Wikipedia article is the in-depth information. At the top of the page is a header that informs the reader that this article is about a current event.

The article includes plenty of resources and even links to the video footage- which in itself is hard to watch- but you can clearly see the intense speed the plane was traveling down the runway. A great deal of research is done to gather all this information about an event and put it all together into one source for all of us read.

As a librarian, I believe this Wikipedia entry is a valuable resource for patrons of the library. If you think of a scenario where someone would come to the reference desk and ask about the recent plane crash in Brazil- we could refer the person to this Wikipedia article. Not only does it give information about the crash but it also provides information about the type of aircraft, the city, the airport, aviation history and much more- all with external links of information to all the above. Before Wikipedia, we would have to point to dozens of resources to collect this information for someone-- i.e. newspaper articles, airplane manufacturers, country profiles, etc. etc.

Then again, if you really think about it, with this Wikipedia article does anyone really need to come to the library to get this information? Or do they just go online and punch up Google and get this Wikipedia page? A debate in our profession now and in the future.