Joe Russo

“Living Library” integrating a wiki into an open source online library management tool
  Session III, Friday 8:00 - 9:00

Joe Russo, Resource Coordinator at Montclair State University, MILS -- Pratt Institute MA -- Drew University
Gregg Festa, Director of the ADP Center for Teacher Preparation and Learning Technologies, Montclair State University

Biography

Gregg Festa, a veteran teacher, school technology coordinator and instructional media designer, currently serves as the Founding Director of Montclair State University’s ADP Center for Teacher Preparation and Learning Technologies where he provides more than 36,000 teacher education faculty, students and practicing P-12 educators from the Montclair State University Network for Educational Renewal with access and the requisite support in conducting research in pedagogy, utilizing curriculum and instructional resources, and integrating emerging learning technologies throughout the educational process.

Gregg, co-chair of the NJEDge.Net K20 Initiative, is the 2007 NJAET Technologist of the Year and has presented and published nationally on the need for creating highly student-centered classrooms for the future, how to bridge the digital divide in urban education and utilizing common and emerging communication and collaboration technologies such as video conferencing and Web 2.0 to tear down the walls of the traditional classroom and provide students with access to subject matter experts while interacting with their peers across the globe.

Abstract

The ADP Center for Teacher Preparation and Learning Technologies at Montclair State University is home to the largest curriculum library (CRC) in NJ. The CRC worked in tandem with the College Technology Coordinator to identify and implement an open source online library management tool that allows patrons to play a role in the collection building and management process. This new system integrates a wiki into the OPAC to facilitate an innovative “living library,” resulting in a connected community of patrons that use the site to construct a more meaningful and user driven collection.

We will present a history of the process that we went through in developing the eCRC. We will also demonstrate how the OPAC interacts with the Wiki and also connects to the other resources within the eCRC. These resources include professional development workshops and further internet resources. We will also go over how we decided to host the wiki on a server on our campus and have decided to have the OPAC hosted remotely and the relative merits of that decision. Both the catalog (Koha) and the wiki (Mediawiki) are open source software. We are hoping that this wiki innovation will serve as a model for future OPAC development. Integrating the OPAC with the wiki serves as model for the possibility of integrating a wiki into the OPAC itself. While the ADP Center does not have the programming resources to accomplish a melding of the two open source programs, we look forward to the possibility of partnering with other libraries to build an online catalog that builds a wiki into the catalog itself.

The wiki itself can serve as a connection between the many resources that are within our library. It can serve as way of linking books and subjects to journal articles that are available digitally. By allowing for the user community to edit and add to the wiki - we allow it to grow and develop in ways that we do not necessarily define. It allows students and faculty an opportunity to take part in the building of a resource that they have played a large role in contributing to. Any professional development that we provide links back to the wiki - so that the wiki becomes a vehicle for extended learning - building upon the resources we have available. Our hope is that by making the library a "living" resource, we expand its impact. While maintaining the integrity of the catalog itself, we encourage the idea that the resources continue living beyond the covers of a book or outside of the showing of a video. How a resource is used becomes an important element of the resource itself. This is our first year with the project -- so are in the process of assessing its success. It was nominated for a NJLA CUS Technology Innovation Award.