The Atrium

Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia created by a community of users known as Wikipedeans. The public can contribute content, and in fact, Wikipedia encourages its readers to add content or correct incomplete or incorrect data, as applicable.

The site began in 2001 and today it boasts 1,194,372 articles! More often than not, because the entries are based on interest of the end users, one can find anything and everything they would ever need to know about a subject on Wikipedia, despite the obscurity of the subject matter. Wikipedia ranges from exhaustive articles about the unit of temperature Kelvin; to a list of time travel devices (like the Flux Capacitor).

Wikipedia is a veritable cornucopia of rare and little-known facts, as well as everyday concepts, like dishware. The software that runs it, called Wiki (hence the name), is free for others to make their own custom Wikis. For instance, fans of the popular game World of Warcraft have created their own WoWWiki to help other players get any information they would ever need to optimize their game play.

St. Joseph County Librarian's have created their own Wiki for their patrons, called SJCPL's Subject Guides. Their subject guides were created to help patrons learn about a subject, and locate library materials and events on those subjects.

So next time you need to understand the concepts of Astrodynamics, why not skip the search engine and try a Wiki.