I think this is just the result of a narrow minded editor. I've edited
plenty of articles that have foreign-language sources - and no one has
commented or even thought twice about such things. Nowadays, with Google
Translate, there's no excuse NOT to use foreign language sources.
If the article you're editing is under the aegis of a WikiProject, post on
the talk page of the WikiProject and ask others to weigh in.
Bob Kosovsky, Ph.D. -- Librarian, Rare Books and Manuscripts,
Music & Recorded Sound Division
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts - Dorothy and Lewis B.
Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023
www.nypl.org
On Wed, Dec 8, 2021 at 4:47 PM Riehman-Murphy, Christina <cer20(a)psu.edu>
wrote:
Hi Emily,
This question came my way via a colleague at Penn State who saw it on the
same listserv. Here were my suggestions but I'd love to hear what others
think as well.
Christina Riehman-Murphy
Reference & Instruction Librarian
Penn State Abington
Off the top of my head, here are a few options to pass along:
Wikipedia has some built-in mechanisms for resolving and discussing
disputes. The Talk page <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Talk_pages>
is the page for an article where editors can discuss their reasons for
including something, answer sourcing questions, etc. There are also
guidelines for resolving disputes
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Dispute_resolution>. In this
case, it sounds like the article has been rejected outright over reliable
source guidelines
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources>, which are
particularly stringent for biographies of living persons (not clear if the
fellow chemist is living).
I would suggest that the author review all of those guidelines, and see
what can be done to address the concerns
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Articles_for_creation/Draft_decline_or_reject_help>
and reach out to the Help Desk
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Help_desk> and a TeaHouse
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Teahouse> to get some
feedback. I do not know if the author speaks Russian, but that is also an
option - translating the Wikipedia article into Russian and submitting it
to Russian Wikipedia <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Wikipedia>.
I know this situation can be very frustrating and certainly Wikipedia does
have its problems, but it's worth chatting through these forums to see if
there's a way to move forward.
------------------------------
*From:* Jack, Emily <jack(a)email.unc.edu>
*Sent:* Wednesday, December 8, 2021 4:44 PM
*To:* Wikimedia & Libraries <libraries(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
*Subject:* [libraries] Question: using Russian sources on English
Wikipedia
Hi all,
This isn’t strictly a libraries question, but I’m sending to this group
because I appreciate the brain trust here. If there’s somewhere more
appropriate to post this question, please let me know.
A chemistry librarian I know sent this question:
“I am trying to help a professor who has written a biography of a fellow
chemist whose original work was in Russian, starting in the 50’s. My profs
article has been rejected as not being supported by reliable sources. The
journals are reliable sources but they just aren’t in English, apparently a
major sticking point. Some may not be available electronically either.
Obviously we are looking at the articles and do have access to most in
translation and most electronic. Reality remains, as we all know, that some
are just not going to be translated nor available easily online. Is this
the norm for Wikipedia? One journal they considered non-reliable was
Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR. Not exactly an unknown, unreliable source. We
can deal with this one but has left me wondering about the rules, who
decides what is reliable, etc. Would appreciate any insight and guidance I
can get.”
Anyone have insights? I would be grateful!
Emily
she/her
_______________________________________________
Libraries mailing list -- libraries(a)lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe send an email to libraries-leave(a)lists.wikimedia.org