Week 7, Thing 16: Yes...I am an Expert!

Wikipedia is awesome. It's not my competition, it's my ally!

While I would never refer a customer to Wikipedia as an authoritative resource, I don't even try to pretend that I don't use it.

I didn't always support Wikipedia but one day a friend of mine laid it all out for me: Think of a subject that you would consider yourself an "expert" on and do a little research on it. Did you learn anything new? Well then, there you go! You, too can be an expert!

Did you know that Teddy Roosevelt, our 26th President, had a ranch in Medora, South Dakota? Guess what? There is no Medora in South Dakota, it's in North Dakota. But this bit of mis-information didn't come from Wikipedia (they got it right) it came from a history book and was spotted by six-year-old, Connor Joseph of Fargo, N.D.. You can read about Conner's discovery in this ABC News article.

Wikipedia isn't perfect. Our textbooks aren't perfect. Our customers don't care.
Open-minded librarians to the rescue!