Thing 18

Wikipedia's like Google, in that it's the dirty secret of all librarians. Like everyone else it's the first place we look, when we think no-one's looking. Hopefully we use it as a starting point, and check our references. My favourite story is that of the hapless Daily Mirror football reporter who came unstuck when he looked up AC Omonia. Nature found that Wikipedia and Britannica were of similar value in terms of the accuracy of science articles, which caused an almighty row.

What do I think? Well it's a reasonable place to find out the first thing about something you know nothing about, and fine for things that don't really matter; minor mysteries that were discussed in the tea room, for example. Having found peer reviewed journal articles and published textbooks with inaccurate citations, I would always check the original source before I cited it myself, and I'd never cite Wikipedia, people would laugh at me. Interesting that, isn't it? They wouldn't laugh if I cited Britannica.