Bob,

You are understandably confounded about where to organize. There are 3 Wikipeida Loves Libraries pages that have been started:

1. On Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Loves_Libraries

2. On Meta http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Loves_Libraries

3. On Outreach http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Loves_Libraries

As it happens, I am an administrator on the outreach wiki, and I agree with you that it is probably the most apt home for such things. So I took the liberty of copying the GLAM tabbed interface to start a proper WLL portal.

If you want a place to draft the rhetoric in question, I set up a page for it at http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Loves_Libraries/Communication

I guess we should discuss about how to organize the portal on-wiki, but I’m happy to take requests for features about this portal.

Max Klein

Wikipedia in Residence

kleinm@oclc.org

+17074787023

From: Anne Britton [mailto:anne_britton@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2012 4:14 PM
To: Wikimedia & Libraries
Subject: Re: [libraries] Outreach to library staff

Great idea, Bob.

1. I think the phrasing of our email message should emphasize that pretty much anything goes with respect to goals or formats for WLL participation. We should be careful not to overdetermine how "WLL" might be interpreted.

2. That said, if we suggest possible event ideas in the email message, we might include language that characterizes Wikipedia-editing as one of today's must-have literacies. A library might hold a WLL event for non-Wikipedians in order to highlight Wikipedia as a participatory platform, "the encyclopedia anyone can edit," an everyday skill.

Anne

--- On Mon, 6/4/12, Bob Kosovsky <bobkosovsky@nypl.org> wrote:

From: Bob Kosovsky <bobkosovsky@nypl.org>
Subject: [libraries] Outreach to library staff
To: "Wikimedia & Libraries" <libraries@lists.wikimedia.org>
Date: Monday, June 4, 2012, 6:27 PM

[...]

So it's time to spring into action in order to prepare for Wikipedia Loves Libraries 2012 (WLL).  To start, I propose that we create an email message to be posted to various library-related email lists notifying people of the existence of and advantages of WLL.  (When I say "library" I mean to be inclusive of the other GLAM participants, although - for now - focusing on library staff [who are not always "librarians"].)

[...]

I'm thinking of some kind of concise, direct, and appealing message that lays out about 5 bullet points as to why library staff and libraries should be involved in WLL.  From there they can go to the Get Started page above.  

Some of the points I'm thinking of are:

• Welcoming Wikipedians into your library can increase the number of users
• Wikipedia activity in the library can foster a greater sense of community 
• As the 6th most frequently visited site on the Internet, Wikipedia as the ability to highlight your library
• Wikipedia's underlying message of access to information can underscore your library's efforts to provide access to patrons
• If your library has unique materials, Wikipedians can help reveal knowledge and information about those materials

So how about it?  Maybe someone can set up a planning space on outreach.wikimedia.org so we can gather & organize our thoughts and share them with others?

[...]