A couple of days ago, I added to my Twitter profile the phrase “all of us are smarter than any of us”. I seem to say it over and over to students. It is really the backbone idea around many of the things about which I am passionate – Open Source, unconferences, personal learning networks and libraries.

Wikipedia works because enough people care and put in time and effort to make something with authority. Pushing for an “Australian content only” site separate from Wikipedia would just not work. There is not critical mass to maintain it and more people would search Wikipedia first.

What if we had something similar in libraryland? We already do. I suggest that if we get behind the efforts below and read, comment and engage, we will make our own library lives easier. I would love to see Australian library folk adding Australian-based content to these sources.

Libraries Interact: blog central for Australasian Libraries . Started in 2006 by a group of Australian library bloggers. Anyone can join up and submit a blog post as long as it is relevant to libraries and Australasia.

Library Success: a best practices wiki .  Originally created by librarian Meredith Farkas. The Grand Dame of collaborative libraryland sharing that details ways that libraries have done things well. It is looking a bit tired at the moment, but pages like the Mobile Libraries page are still being updated. I wonder whether it would make a good student project for someone to research and update the topics? And for another to run a social media campaign to encourage people to contribute?

LISNews . Created by librarian Blake Carver in 1999 . Publishes news stories about libraries from around the world. A great way to find out who is doing what, and how what we do is regarded by other people. You can very easily contribute by suggesting a story . (And if you want to kill a couple of seconds in a very amusing way, check in every so often and watch the site tagline change …I believe that no kittens were injured in the production of the latest tagline)

LISEvents This aims to be a “library community conferences and events site”.  It is another Blake Carver brainchild. It was launched earlier in the week and so far there is just one Australian entry. Adding an entry is easy.  Something like this could become a great directory for Australian library events. There is also a “speakers” section where you can find someone who can talk about a particular topic or add your own details

LISVendor Created by law librarian, Sarah Glassmeyer. This wiki is self-described as  “a place for librarians to communicate and otherwise share information about our interactions and business dealings with library vendors: complaints and compliments about customer service, problems with products, pricing information, etc.”.

And … not really open contribution … . You can suggest ideas for blog posts in their Contributor Interest Form.   I think the profession would benefit if we engaged with what is being said here and through comments …

Hack Library School A collaborative blog by library students where they share not only the library school experience, but how that can be made better.

So…. are there other sources that I have missed?