Too good to be true?

Wikis.

I haven't built one yet--my library system is just getting started building them--but already I want one.

They're like uber-databases, only much more user-friendly (Quoth the woman who has only ever used Microsoft's database program, pain-in-the Access) and I just love databases. Organized, searchable information=LOVE.

I want a booktalks wiki and a teen program-builder wiki and the wiki for my Teen Advisory Commission and middle school board...

It's not that I'd never used wikis--I worked on a tiny corner of the Hurricane Katrina Wiki, made copious use of ALA's Midwinter Conference wiki, robbed blind was inspired by the "uncyclopedia" for Solinus, even made my own tiny contribution to the famous-est wiki of all. Of course, my entry has been updated and changed--the changes are correct, as far as they go--but less informative.

Knowing what I knew (or thought I knew) they all seemed so... frivolous, uncontrolled and disorderly.

I just didn't perceive how, well, how incredibly librarian-cool wikis could be.