Hello all,
As you probably have noticed, in the last few years more and more library communities are engaging with Wikipedia as a tool for teaching our patrons effective internet research, but also as contributors of Wikimedia projects, through projects like Art and Feminism and the #1lib1ref campaign.
But these kinds of collaborations, only scratch the surface -- whole networks of libraries are integrating Wikipedia into their professional work of sharing knowledge, and using it as a tool for serving their patrons. Take for example the public libraries in Catalonia: nearly 200 libraries are actively contributing to Wikimedia projects, as an effort to preserve Catalan language and culture.
Since early 2016, IFLA Headquarters and the Wikipedia Library Team at the Wikimedia Foundation, have been supporting a group of Wikipedians and Library experts in writing two white papers on the opportunities for library and Wikipedia collaboration. Initial drafts of these papers were presented at the WLIC 2016, and were well received.
We hope to continue to refine these papers, and we need your help to do it: though the committees that wrote the papers include leading experts on these collaboration, we know that their are hundreds of leaders in library and Wikipedia communities who also have valuable experience with these important partnerships. We hope to revise the current drafts to fully reflect the global experience of Wikipedia and Library collaborators.
To this end, we invite you to join our open commenting period on the white papers, that just opened on September 19 and will remain open through October 31st. Instructions for commenting, are available in the following Google docs:
Thank you for your time! And please feel free to share the invitation for comment widely!
Cheers,
Alex Stinson, GLAM-Wiki Strategist, Wikimedia Foundation
Julia Brungs, Policy and Research Officer, IFLA
[1]https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ysh1N6BT29-rrAGRidMj1i0BHBzcwIms7TUamUbcg98
[2]https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nrqxK46pqDs6DgSGHtfzAJLjQ94rA-3bgLDa2BZpF5M