Journal Article # 3 - Jennifer S.

O’Leary, Mick. Wikipedia: Encyclopedia or Not?. Information Today; Sept 2005: 49-53.

Persistent link to this record: http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an=18175052

The Library and Reference Powers That Be continuously denounce Wikipedia as a fraud that is out to misinform people worldwide. However, according to Mick O’Leary, Wikipedia has a dual identity: part highly successful collaborative Internet project, part genuine encyclopedia. As of 2005, Wikipedia had 1.8 million entries in over 100 different languages with 13,000 active contributors and hundreds of thousands of visitors who make changes daily. O’Leary discusses Wikipedia’s strengths and weaknesses and states that, as with any reference source, one should know both in order to use it properly.

Wikipedia’s Strengths:
· Every article is conscientiously recorded and preserved
· Comprehensive and up-to-date
· Brings forth information that proves challenging to find

Wikipedia’s Weaknesses:
· Some “articles” are too short to even be considered such
· Search options are limited
· Inconsistent in emphasis, indexing, and classifying of articles

Like an encyclopedia, it has quality control, a consistent format, editorial direction, and comprehensive coverage. However, it is less consistent, less organized, and generally less accurate. O’Leary suggests using this encyclopedia freely, but cautiously.

I says do the same. I find Wikipedia to be easy to use and it provides information that is sometimes beyond reach with traditional encyclopedias. If a student is researching a topic that is well known and well documented in print encyclopedias or books then I steer them that way. If a student has some obscure topic and we find absolutely nothing in print materials then I sit them down at a computer and give them full reign to use Wikipedia. Heck, I sometimes tell them to use Wikipedia as a starting point for their research but remind them that it is not the end all be all in sources. To be honest, I like Wikipedia and have it bookmarked ; ) This article has assisted me in understanding this new collective encyclopedia more and I say “Go collective wisdom, go!”