Hello Reem,

Thanks for asking these very salient questions and to the community for these very insightful contributions.

Just to add to the many contributions that have been made on here, your context maybe different from each and every other person on here and having a chance to discuss with you may help me understand how to help.

I am happy to work closely with you on a clear plan of action and to help you prep for the meeting. 

Cheers

On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 1:53 PM Jenemann, Laura <ljeneman@bu.edu> wrote:

Hi Reem,

 

I’m happy to help you as much as possible.

 

At my institution, we are exploring how Wikipedia can work on different levels such as:

 

  1. Reading Wikipedia pages critically.
    1. Read the History of a page
    2. Turn on the Assessment options, so you can see the color and quality of a page
    3. Read the Talk page
    4. Explore references.
  2. Make simple citation edits using the Citation Hunt Tool.
  3. Look at Dashboards and courses for examples.
  4. Look at these assignments from Butler University librarians. Go to http://libguides.butler.edu/facultystaff/wikipedia and click Assignments.

 

These projects all support the information literacy goals in the ACRL framework.

 

Are the librarians English speakers or Arabic speakers or both?

 

I can send you some attachments from the Wikipedia + Libraries project that you might find helpful.  I can also collaborate on assignments with you.

 

You can start very simple and slow and users will still learn a lot!

 

Please be in touch!

 

Best wishes,

Laura

 

 

-- 

Laura Jenemann

Communication, Media, & Film Librarian

Boston University

617-353-9240

ljeneman@bu.edu

 

From: Libraries <libraries-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org> on behalf of Andromeda Yelton <andromeda.yelton@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Wikimedia & Libraries <libraries@lists.wikimedia.org>
Date: Monday, September 17, 2018 at 9:28 AM
To: Wikimedia & Libraries <libraries@lists.wikimedia.org>
Subject: Re: [libraries] Meeting Librarians Soon. Help!

 

I am a librarian! I think the key thing is finding ways that *Wikipedia* can advance the *librarians'* goals. I think when these initiatives fail it's often because they're framed in terms of how librarians can advance Wikipedia's goals. (And asking people who are overworked and underpaid to contribute free labor to a project they're not already invested in is...not an obvious value proposition.)

 

Now I have no idea what the going concerns are for Egyptian librarians, so I can't advise you on specifics. But here are some things librarians are often interested in that can be approached via Wikipedia:

 

* research and information literacy skills: finding and evaluating sources

* digital literacy and computer usage skills

* propaganda, misinformation, fake news (though I expect this plays very differently in Egypt than where I am in the US)

* supporting the learning that is going on in professors' classrooms

* open access

 

They're often interested in digital preservation and research data management too, but their approaches are SO different that Wikipedia is probably less useful here.

 

What kind of interest are your librarians expressing? Why do THEY want to learn more?

 

On Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 7:22 AM Reem Al-Kashif <reemalkashif@gmail.com> wrote:


Hello,

Hope this finds you well. I didn't plan on meeting librarians at a university here in Cairo, Egypt, but they expressed interest in Wikipedia, so we are meeting :). The problem is, I really don't know what activities to offer them. I have zero experience in Wiki+libraries collaborations. It would be more than great if anybody could help me out. What I need is:
1. Understanding the nature of librarians work (I know it is a big topic, but some general remarks would do).
2. Having examples of activities they can be part of to contribute to Wiki (be it Wikipedia or Wikimedia).

3. Understanding how rewarding those activities are (so that I explain to them)
4. Having examples of similar activities, if any, around the world. 
Bonus  point 5. Having a clear plan of action to give them (i.e. what do we do after the meeting and so on)

Thank you so so much in advance for helping me navigate this uncharted territory.

Best,
Reem



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Kind regards,
Reem Al-Kashif

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