Last #1lib1ref was not successful here: The librarians we've contacted were not interested in fixing references for random articles, and they had difficulties on understanding why they should get through all the trouble of learning to edit Wikipedia just to fulfill the objective of 1 ref per librarian.

Probably in the next edition we'll be reformulating the contest locally to make it more attractive to them.

Paulo

Jean-Philippe Béland jpbeland@wikimedia.ca escreveu no dia segunda, 17/09/2018 à(s) 13:39:

Hello Reem,

I'm not a librarian, but what worked well with librarians here in Quebec, Canada was the #1lib1ref campaign. We organized a little friendly competition between different university and institutional libraries and it was very successful in my opinion. We also invited students in relevant university courses to participate and taught them how to add references to Wikipedia. From what I have been told, since last year, the International Federation of Library Association (IFLA) is actively supporting the cooperation between libraries and WMF projects, especially through #1lib1ref. I'm sure there are people more qualified than me on this mailing list to explain to you what is #1lib1ref, but you can find information about it on Meta-Wiki: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library/1Lib1Ref. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library/1Lib1Ref

Thank you and good luck with your meeting!

Jean-Philippe Béland Wikimédia Canada

On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 7:23 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

--

*Kind regards,Reem Al-Kashif* _______________________________________________ Libraries mailing list Libraries@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/libraries

---

Libraries mailing list Libraries@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/libraries

This thread has been immensely useful in assisting with my thinking about strategies to promote 1Lib1Ref with colleagues and other librarians here in South Africa. The idea of having the libraries (and then schools) mentioned in the Wikipedia articles on the individual towns seems to me to be a good strategy to get librarians to dip their toes in the Wikipedia waters.

Thank you v much!

Regards Ingrid Thomson

Ingrid Thomson Subject Librarian Humanities Information Services University of Cape Town Libraries Private Bag X3 Rondebosch 7701 Tel: +27 21 650 3133 Email: Ingrid.thomson@uct.ac.zamailto:Ingrid.thomson@uct.ac.za @ingridthomson

[primo e banner]https://uct.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/browse?vid=27UCT_INST:27UCThttp://www.lib.uct.ac.za/

From: Libraries [mailto:libraries-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Kerry Raymond Sent: 18 September 2018 11:30 AM To: 'Wikimedia & Libraries' libraries@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: Re: [libraries] Meeting Librarians Soon. Help!

Yes, unfortunately the way we often promote 1Lib1Ref can leave that impression (it’s cleaning-up after some lazy Wikipedians!). There are a number of ways to deal with this.

Firstly explain away “1 Ref”, just say that it’s asking librarians to take a first step, and obviously we hope they will do more than 1. Tell them it can 1Lib10Ref if they prefer.

Second, the topic doesn’t have to be random. If the library has a particular topic area of interest (probably something they actively collect and are proud of), talk to them about adding citations in articles relating to that topic area. Now your librarians are exploiting their special collection material and their special expertise in that collections. Such citations (particularly if they refer to online accessible content on their website or at least a catalogue entry) will drive interest in the library (and its website). Librarians like that because it provides a way by which they can promote their special collection (without crossing the COI boundary – remember [[WP:CURATOR]] says it is not COI for a GLAM to do edits that relate to the content of the GLAM’s collections).

The way to work with a special topic is to *not* use Citation Hunt but rather use the tool Petscan to find the articles in their topic of interest that need citations

https://petscan.wmflabs.org/https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/Ngc8CxGzD1UPm48GHveYUY

with which you can construct a list of articles within a specific category tree in Wikipedia (which relates to one of library’s area of interest) which are intersected with the tracking category “All articles with unsourced statements” (which means the article has a citation-needed template in it). Note, that the documentation for most of those “quality” tags usually mentions a tracking category (so you can look for other quality issues if you want)

So if your library’s special interests is Egypt, then here’s an example of a search for citations needed in Egypt articles

https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?language=en&project=wikipedia&depth=3&a...https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/IqIXCzm4GXCO8pDPiKEa87=

That query (with depth 3) produced 845 articles. But if you want more, try depth 4 (1465 results), then 5 (2186 results), etc (the greater the depth, the slower the execution, but you probably have more than enough with 845 possible articles!

I print these Petscan lists out, and progressively cut them up into some single article strips (for the total beginner) and into some larger multiple-article strips (for the not-beginner), put them in a “lucky dip” box and let people draw out one or a group at random. Or let them choose from a single big list (but get them to mark off the one they are doing so people aren’t duplicating their effort or creating edit conflicts). Whether or not they succeed in finding a citation, throw away that topic after their attempt. Don’t let them spend too long on any one topic (there’s plenty more articles if one proves difficult). It’s quite OK to focus on the easy wins as it is a more positive experience for them and all citations added benefit Wikipedia. (Aside, if your expert librarians can’t find a citation in their area of special interest, it may be a hint to you that maybe it’s time to remove that content from Wikipedia as perhaps no citation does exist).

If adding citations doesn’t appeal, then try away the whole citation-needed idea and pursue a “let’s expand articles about your topics of interests” or “let’s add photos from your collection” Call it 1Lib1Expand or1Lib1Photo if you like. Explain that the campaign is just to provide a focus for librarians to engage with Wikipedia. However they want to engage is just fine. It’s all improving Wikipedia. Here’s an idea that might appeal to other libraries:

At State Library of Queensland last year, we had a sub-goal for 1Lib1Ref. We said to ourselves that public libraries are important civic amenities (and what librarian doesn’t believe that!) and that every public library in Queensland therefore should be mentioned in the Wikipedia article for that town/suburb/district. So we used

http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/visit-us/find-a-public-library/browse-library-bran...https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/1d-QCAnX51iGr30mSQckWE

as our lucky dip list and the pages linked from it and also this master spreadsheet of other info about all public libraries as our sources

http://www.plconnect.slq.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/388497/SLQ_S...https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/pjrLCBgX56fzP9qZi1Y0VQ

to add a few snippets about each public library (cited to the sources above). We added the address of the library and who operates it and the year it opened and anything special about that library that was worthy of mention (e.g. special collections). So just a sentence or two with citations. Thanks to 1Lib1Ref, we now have every Qld public library (and its mobile libraries stop-off points) mentioned in the relevant Wikipedia article. (The only catch is that it turned out that there were places with public libraries but without Wikipedia articles – those were handed to me, and I created a basic place article, and the library was thrown back in the lucky dip jar when I had made the article.) Now the librarians involved (about 40 of them who did about 25 edits each on average) really engaged well with this; libraries are meaningful to them and so they saw value in doing the task. When we finished doing public libraries, we started working on lists of Qld schools (education matters to librarians too). I note that we do 1Lib1Ref in “editathon” sessions and the librarians enjoy the social aspect of that (although people are free to do it at their desks if they prefer and many leave the editathon session with some extra lucky dip topics saying they will do them at their desk or at home that night). OK, this is not “traditional” 1Lib1Ref but let’s call it 1Lib1Lib or 1Lib1School ☺

So don’t see the format proposed for 1Lib1Ref as a straightjacket. It’s just one way to engage librarians and Citation Hunt does provide a set of tasks for the individual librarian who might be interested but who isn’t in an outreach relationship. But if another way works better for the librarian in an outreach situation (and particularly so if you are working with a library rather than an individual librarian), then just do it that other way. It’s the engagement that matters, not the format. No matter what they do, they acquire some Wikipedia skills, which they might continue to use on their own or be willing to use in another partnership or campaign. It’s a first-step campaign. Once they have taken it, you need to work out what step 2, 3, and 4 is for them.

Kerry

“I would like, if I may, to take you on a strange journey” – Rocky Horror Picture Show

From: Libraries [mailto:libraries-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Paulo Santos Perneta Sent: Monday, 17 September 2018 10:54 PM To: libraries@lists.wikimedia.orgmailto:libraries@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: Re: [libraries] Meeting Librarians Soon. Help!

Last #1lib1ref was not successful here: The librarians we've contacted were not interested in fixing references for random articles, and they had difficulties on understanding why they should get through all the trouble of learning to edit Wikipedia just to fulfill the objective of 1 ref per librarian.

Probably in the next edition we'll be reformulating the contest locally to make it more attractive to them.

Paulo

Jean-Philippe Béland <jpbeland@wikimedia.camailto:jpbeland@wikimedia.ca> escreveu no dia segunda, 17/09/2018 à(s) 13:39: Hello Reem,

I'm not a librarian, but what worked well with librarians here in Quebec, Canada was the #1lib1ref campaign. We organized a little friendly competition between different university and institutional libraries and it was very successful in my opinion. We also invited students in relevant university courses to participate and taught them how to add references to Wikipedia. From what I have been told, since last year, the International Federation of Library Association (IFLA) is actively supporting the cooperation between libraries and WMF projects, especially through #1lib1ref. I'm sure there are people more qualified than me on this mailing list to explain to you what is #1lib1ref, but you can find information about it on Meta-Wiki: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library/1Lib1Ref.https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/jIqdCDRZ58iDjKp6HR5SZ_

Thank you and good luck with your meeting!

Jean-Philippe Béland Wikimédia Canada

On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 7:23 AM Reem Al-Kashif <reemalkashif@gmail.commailto: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

-- Kind regards, Reem Al-Kashif _______________________________________________ Libraries mailing list Libraries@lists.wikimedia.orgmailto:Libraries@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/librarieshttps://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/B-u0CwjyBrSg0z6OfVwxbj _______________________________________________ Libraries mailing list Libraries@lists.wikimedia.orgmailto:Libraries@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/librarieshttps://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/B-u0CwjyBrSg0z6OfVwxbj Disclaimer - University of Cape Town This email is subject to UCT policies and email disclaimer published on our website at http://www.uct.ac.za/main/email-disclaimer or obtainable from +27 21 650 9111. If this email is not related to the business of UCT, it is sent by the sender in an individual capacity. Please report security incidents or abuse via https://csirt.uct.ac.za/page/report-an-incident.php.

Hi all,

this might be relevant: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Terms_of_use/Paid_contributions_amendment#Ho...

To quote:

"The intent of these requirements is not to discourage teachers, professors, or those working at galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (“GLAM”) institutions from making contributions in good faith. Disclosure is only required when contributors are compensated by their employer or client specifically for edits and uploads to a Wikimedia project. For example, if a professor at University X is paid directly by University X to write about that university on Wikipedia, the professor needs to disclose that the contribution is compensated. There is a direct quid pro quo exchange: money for edits. If that professor is simply paid a salary for teaching and conducting research, and is only encouraged by her university to contribute to projects about topics of general interest without more specific instruction, that professor does not need to disclose her affiliation with the university.

The same is true with GLAM employees. Disclosure is only necessary where compensation has been promised or received in exchange for a particular contribution. A museum employee who is contributing to projects about topics of his general interest without more specific instruction from the museum need not disclose his affiliation with the museum. At the same time, when required, a simple disclosure that one is a paid Wikipedian in Residence with a particular museum, for example, would be sufficient disclosure for purposes of the proposed amendment."

Best regards, Patrick

Am 19.09.2018 um 23:26 schrieb RJ Hardeman:

Hi All,

Just a change of subject for this email thread. Next month, my colleague and I will be introducing Wikipedia to a group of librarians and wanted to include a slide on conflict of interest and librarians. Is there a policy or best practice set of guidelines that we can reference and share?

Please let me know,

Thank you, Rajene

On Tue, Sep 18, 2018 at 05:30 Kerry Raymond kerry.raymond@gmail.com wrote:

...

Yes, unfortunately the way we often promote 1Lib1Ref can leave that impression (it’s cleaning-up after some lazy Wikipedians!). There are a number of ways to deal with this.

Firstly explain away “1 Ref”, just say that it’s asking librarians to take a first step, and obviously we hope they will do more than 1. Tell them it can 1Lib10Ref if they prefer.

Second, the topic doesn’t have to be random. If the library has a particular topic area of interest (probably something they actively collect and are proud of), talk to them about adding citations in articles relating to that topic area. Now your librarians are exploiting their special collection material and their special expertise in that collections. Such citations (particularly if they refer to online accessible content on their website or at least a catalogue entry) will drive interest in the library (and its website). Librarians like that because it provides a way by which they can promote their special collection (without crossing the COI boundary – remember [[WP:CURATOR]] says it is not COI for a GLAM to do edits that relate to the content of the GLAM’s collections).

The way to work with a special topic is to **not** use Citation Hunt but rather use the tool Petscan to find the articles in their topic of interest that need citations

https://petscan.wmflabs.org/

with which you can construct a list of articles within a specific category tree in Wikipedia (which relates to one of library’s area of interest) which are intersected with the tracking category “All articles with unsourced statements” (which means the article has a citation-needed template in it). Note, that the documentation for most of those “quality” tags usually mentions a tracking category (so you can look for other quality issues if you want)

So if your library’s special interests is Egypt, then here’s an example of a search for citations needed in Egypt articles

https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?language=en&project=wikipedia&depth=3&a... =

That query (with depth 3) produced 845 articles. But if you want more, try depth 4 (1465 results), then 5 (2186 results), etc (the greater the depth, the slower the execution, but you probably have more than enough with 845 possible articles!

I print these Petscan lists out, and progressively cut them up into some single article strips (for the total beginner) and into some larger multiple-article strips (for the not-beginner), put them in a “lucky dip” box and let people draw out one or a group at random. Or let them choose from a single big list (but get them to mark off the one they are doing so people aren’t duplicating their effort or creating edit conflicts). Whether or not they succeed in finding a citation, throw away that topic after their attempt. Don’t let them spend too long on any one topic (there’s plenty more articles if one proves difficult). It’s quite OK to focus on the easy wins as it is a more positive experience for them and all citations added benefit Wikipedia. (Aside, if your expert librarians can’t find a citation in their area of special interest, it may be a hint to you that maybe it’s time to remove that content from Wikipedia as perhaps no citation does exist).

If adding citations doesn’t appeal, then try away the whole citation-needed idea and pursue a “let’s expand articles about your topics of interests” or “let’s add photos from your collection” Call it 1Lib1Expand or1Lib1Photo if you like. Explain that the campaign is just to provide a focus for librarians to engage with Wikipedia. However they want to engage is just fine. It’s all improving Wikipedia. Here’s an idea that might appeal to other libraries:

At State Library of Queensland last year, we had a sub-goal for 1Lib1Ref. We said to ourselves that public libraries are important civic amenities (and what librarian doesn’t believe that!) and that every public library in Queensland therefore should be mentioned in the Wikipedia article for that town/suburb/district. So we used

http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/visit-us/find-a-public-library/browse-library-bran...

as our lucky dip list and the pages linked from it and also this master spreadsheet of other info about all public libraries as our sources

http://www.plconnect.slq.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/388497/SLQ_S...

to add a few snippets about each public library (cited to the sources above). We added the address of the library and who operates it and the year it opened and anything special about that library that was worthy of mention (e.g. special collections). So just a sentence or two with citations. Thanks to 1Lib1Ref, we now have every Qld public library (and its mobile libraries stop-off points) mentioned in the relevant Wikipedia article. (The only catch is that it turned out that there were places with public libraries but without Wikipedia articles – those were handed to me, and I created a basic place article, and the library was thrown back in the lucky dip jar when I had made the article.) Now the librarians involved (about 40 of them who did about 25 edits each on average) really engaged well with this; libraries are meaningful to them and so they saw value in doing the task. When we finished doing public libraries, we started working on lists of Qld schools (education matters to librarians too). I note that we do 1Lib1Ref in “editathon” sessions and the librarians enjoy the social aspect of that (although people are free to do it at their desks if they prefer and many leave the editathon session with some extra lucky dip topics saying they will do them at their desk or at home that night). OK, this is not “traditional” 1Lib1Ref but let’s call it 1Lib1Lib or 1Lib1School J

So don’t see the format proposed for 1Lib1Ref as a straightjacket. It’s just one way to engage librarians and Citation Hunt does provide a set of tasks for the individual librarian who might be interested but who isn’t in an outreach relationship. But if another way works better for the librarian in an outreach situation (and particularly so if you are working with a library rather than an individual librarian), then just do it that other way. It’s the engagement that matters, not the format. No matter what they do, they acquire some Wikipedia skills, which they might continue to use on their own or be willing to use in another partnership or campaign. It’s a first-step campaign. Once they have taken it, you need to work out what step 2, 3, and 4 is for them.

Kerry

*“I would like*, if I may, to *take you* on a *strange journey” – Rocky Horror Picture Show*

*From:* Libraries [mailto:libraries-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] *On Behalf Of *Paulo Santos Perneta *Sent:* Monday, 17 September 2018 10:54 PM *To:* libraries@lists.wikimedia.org *Subject:* Re: [libraries] Meeting Librarians Soon. Help!

Last #1lib1ref was not successful here: The librarians we've contacted were not interested in fixing references for random articles, and they had difficulties on understanding why they should get through all the trouble of learning to edit Wikipedia just to fulfill the objective of 1 ref per librarian.

Probably in the next edition we'll be reformulating the contest locally to make it more attractive to them.

Paulo

Jean-Philippe Béland jpbeland@wikimedia.ca escreveu no dia segunda, 17/09/2018 à(s) 13:39:

Hello Reem,

I'm not a librarian, but what worked well with librarians here in Quebec, Canada was the #1lib1ref campaign. We organized a little friendly competition between different university and institutional libraries and it was very successful in my opinion. We also invited students in relevant university courses to participate and taught them how to add references to Wikipedia. From what I have been told, since last year, the International Federation of Library Association (IFLA) is actively supporting the cooperation between libraries and WMF projects, especially through #1lib1ref. I'm sure there are people more qualified than me on this mailing list to explain to you what is #1lib1ref, but you can find information about it on Meta-Wiki: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library/1Lib1Ref. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library/1Lib1Ref

Thank you and good luck with your meeting!

Jean-Philippe Béland

Wikimédia Canada

On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 7:23 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

--

*Kind regards,Reem Al-Kashif*

---

Libraries mailing list Libraries@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/libraries

---

Libraries mailing list Libraries@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/libraries

---

Libraries mailing list Libraries@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/libraries

---

Libraries mailing list Libraries@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/libraries

To add to Merrilee's, Kerry's, and others' points concerning conflict of interest,

As a new editor, you should first establish yourself as a trusted editor within the Wikipedian community. Once you've written and revised a number of articles (and received feedback from others), then you can create/revise an article on your institution.

Bob Kosovsky, Ph.D. -- Curator, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts blog: http://www.nypl.org/blog/author/44 Twitter: @kos2 Listowner: OPERA-L ; EXLIBRIS-L ; SMT-ANNOUNCE ; SoundForge-users - My opinions do not necessarily represent those of my institutions -

*Inspiring Lifelong Learning* | *Advancing Knowledge* | *Strengthening Our Communities *

On Thu, Sep 20, 2018 at 6:15 PM Kerry Raymond kerry.raymond@gmail.com wrote:

While for most people, writing about their employer is usually a Conflict of Interest, this does not apply to GLAM folk writing about the content in the special collections held by their employer (that's encouraged). However, GLAM folk should be cautious about writing about their institution as an organisation. Things that are likely to be conflict of interest are advertising events at the institution.

This may be useful as it provides some questions to ask about an edit to help GLAM folk decide if it might be a conflict of interest:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/Getting_started

Another point not mentioned above but is generally unwelcome is the practice of adding links that are search results of your catalogue that mention (say) Granny Smith apples: e.g.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/result?q=Granny+Smith+apples

It is much preferred to have a hand-curated small number of links to rare/unique important works about Granny Smith apples in your collection. Perhaps you hold Granny Smith's diary that records her excitement at discovering this strange new apple in her garden, or the first still life painting with a Granny Smith apple.

Generally we are talking here about your institution's special collections. We don't need catalogue links to commonplace items that many GLAMs would hold, e.g. a Harry Potter book or a glass bottle. But a glass bottle recovered from the wreck of the Some Famous Ship or some other interesting history might be relevant to the Some Famous Ship article, but maybe not to the glass bottle article.

Kerry

-----Original Message----- From: Libraries [mailto:libraries-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Patrick Borer Sent: Thursday, 20 September 2018 7:37 AM To: libraries@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: Re: [libraries] Librarians and conflict of interest

Hi all,

this might be relevant:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Terms_of_use/Paid_contributions_amendment#Ho...) ?

To quote:

"The intent of these requirements is not to discourage teachers, professors, or those working at galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (“GLAM”) institutions from making contributions in good faith. Disclosure is only required when contributors are compensated by their employer or client specifically for edits and uploads to a Wikimedia project. For example, if a professor at University X is paid directly by University X to write about that university on Wikipedia, the professor needs to disclose that the contribution is compensated. There is a direct quid pro quo exchange: money for edits. If that professor is simply paid a salary for teaching and conducting research, and is only encouraged by her university to contribute to projects about topics of general interest without more specific instruction, that professor does not need to disclose her affiliation with the university.

The same is true with GLAM employees. Disclosure is only necessary where compensation has been promised or received in exchange for a particular contribution. A museum employee who is contributing to projects about topics of his general interest without more specific instruction from the museum need not disclose his affiliation with the museum. At the same time, when required, a simple disclosure that one is a paid Wikipedian in Residence with a particular museum, for example, would be sufficient disclosure for purposes of the proposed amendment."

Best regards, Patrick

Am 19.09.2018 um 23:26 schrieb RJ Hardeman:

...

Hi All,

Just a change of subject for this email thread. Next month, my colleague and I will be introducing Wikipedia to a group of librarians and wanted to include a slide on conflict of interest and librarians. Is there a policy or best practice set of guidelines that we can

reference and share?

...

Please let me know,

Thank you, Rajene

On Tue, Sep 18, 2018 at 05:30 Kerry Raymond kerry.raymond@gmail.com

wrote:

...

...

Yes, unfortunately the way we often promote 1Lib1Ref can leave that impression (it’s cleaning-up after some lazy Wikipedians!). There are a number of ways to deal with this.

Firstly explain away “1 Ref”, just say that it’s asking librarians to take a first step, and obviously we hope they will do more than 1. Tell them it can 1Lib10Ref if they prefer.

Second, the topic doesn’t have to be random. If the library has a particular topic area of interest (probably something they actively collect and are proud of), talk to them about adding citations in articles relating to that topic area. Now your librarians are exploiting their special collection material and their special expertise in that collections. Such citations (particularly if they refer to online accessible content on their website or at least a catalogue entry) will drive interest in the library (and its website). Librarians like that because it provides a way by which they can promote their special collection (without crossing the COI boundary – remember [[WP:CURATOR]] says it is not COI for a GLAM to do

edits that relate to the content of the GLAM’s collections).

...

...

The way to work with a special topic is to **not** use Citation Hunt but rather use the tool Petscan to find the articles in their topic of interest that need citations

https://petscan.wmflabs.org/

with which you can construct a list of articles within a specific category tree in Wikipedia (which relates to one of library’s area of interest) which are intersected with the tracking category “All articles with unsourced statements” (which means the article has a citation-needed template in it). Note, that the documentation for most

of those “quality”

...

...

tags usually mentions a tracking category (so you can look for other quality issues if you want)

So if your library’s special interests is Egypt, then here’s an example of a search for citations needed in Egypt articles

https://petscan.wmflabs.org/?language=en&project=wikipedia&depth=3&a... tegories=Egypt%0D%0AAll%20articles%20with%20unsourced%20statements&ns %5B0%5D=1&search_max_results=500&interface_language=en&active_tab=&do it =

That query (with depth 3) produced 845 articles. But if you want more, try depth 4 (1465 results), then 5 (2186 results), etc (the greater the depth, the slower the execution, but you probably have more than enough with 845 possible articles!

I print these Petscan lists out, and progressively cut them up into some single article strips (for the total beginner) and into some larger multiple-article strips (for the not-beginner), put them in a

“lucky dip”

...

...

box and let people draw out one or a group at random. Or let them choose from a single big list (but get them to mark off the one they are doing so people aren’t duplicating their effort or creating edit conflicts). Whether or not they succeed in finding a citation, throw away that topic after their attempt. Don’t let them spend too long on any one topic (there’s plenty more articles if one proves difficult). It’s quite OK to focus on the easy wins as it is a more positive experience for them and all citations added benefit Wikipedia. (Aside, if your expert librarians can’t find a citation in their area of special interest, it may be a hint to you that maybe it’s time to remove that content from Wikipedia as perhaps no citation does exist).

If adding citations doesn’t appeal, then try away the whole citation-needed idea and pursue a “let’s expand articles about your topics of interests” or “let’s add photos from your collection” Call it 1Lib1Expand or1Lib1Photo if you like. Explain that the campaign is just to provide a focus for librarians to engage with Wikipedia. However they want to engage is just fine. It’s all improving Wikipedia. Here’s an idea that might appeal to other libraries:

At State Library of Queensland last year, we had a sub-goal for

1Lib1Ref.

...

...

We said to ourselves that public libraries are important civic amenities (and what librarian doesn’t believe that!) and that every public library in Queensland therefore should be mentioned in the Wikipedia article for that town/suburb/district. So we used

http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/visit-us/find-a-public-library/browse-libra ry-branches

as our lucky dip list and the pages linked from it and also this master spreadsheet of other info about all public libraries as our sources

http://www.plconnect.slq.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/38849 7/SLQ_StatsBulletin1617_20171109.pdf

to add a few snippets about each public library (cited to the sources above). We added the address of the library and who operates it and the year it opened and anything special about that library that was worthy of mention (e.g. special collections). So just a sentence or two with citations. Thanks to 1Lib1Ref, we now have every Qld public library (and its mobile libraries stop-off points) mentioned in the relevant Wikipedia article. (The only catch is that it turned out that there were places with public libraries but without Wikipedia articles – those were handed to me, and I created a basic place article, and the library was thrown back in the lucky dip jar when I had made the article.) Now the librarians involved (about 40 of them who did about 25 edits each on average) really engaged well with this; libraries are meaningful to them and so they saw value in doing the task. When we finished doing public libraries, we started working on lists of Qld schools (education matters to librarians too). I note that we do 1Lib1Ref in “editathon” sessions and the librarians enjoy the social aspect of that (although people are free to do it at their desks if they prefer and many leave the editathon session with some extra lucky dip topics saying they will do them at their desk or at home that night). OK, this is not “traditional” 1Lib1Ref but let’s call it 1Lib1Lib or 1Lib1School J

So don’t see the format proposed for 1Lib1Ref as a straightjacket. It’s just one way to engage librarians and Citation Hunt does provide a set of tasks for the individual librarian who might be interested but who isn’t in an outreach relationship. But if another way works better for the librarian in an outreach situation (and particularly so if you are working with a library rather than an individual librarian), then just do it that other way. It’s the engagement that matters, not the format. No matter what they do, they acquire some Wikipedia skills, which they might continue to use on their own or be willing to use in another partnership or campaign. It’s a first-step campaign. Once they have taken it, you need to work out what step 2, 3,

and 4 is for them.

...

...

Kerry

*“I would like*, if I may, to *take you* on a *strange journey” – Rocky Horror Picture Show*

*From:* Libraries [mailto:libraries-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] *On Behalf Of *Paulo Santos Perneta *Sent:* Monday, 17 September 2018 10:54 PM *To:* libraries@lists.wikimedia.org *Subject:* Re: [libraries] Meeting Librarians Soon. Help!

Last #1lib1ref was not successful here: The librarians we've contacted were not interested in fixing references for random articles, and they had difficulties on understanding why they should get through all the trouble of learning to edit Wikipedia just to fulfill the objective of 1 ref per librarian.

Probably in the next edition we'll be reformulating the contest locally to make it more attractive to them.

Paulo

Jean-Philippe Béland jpbeland@wikimedia.ca escreveu no dia segunda, 17/09/2018 à(s) 13:39:

Hello Reem,

I'm not a librarian, but what worked well with librarians here in Quebec, Canada was the #1lib1ref campaign. We organized a little friendly competition between different university and institutional libraries and it was very successful in my opinion. We also invited students in relevant university courses to participate and taught them how to add references to Wikipedia. From what I have been told, since last year, the International Federation of Library Association (IFLA) is actively supporting the cooperation between libraries and WMF projects, especially through #1lib1ref. I'm sure there are people more qualified than me on this mailing list to explain to you what is #1lib1ref, but you can find information about it on Meta-Wiki: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library/1Lib1Ref. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library/1Lib1Ref

Thank you and good luck with your meeting!

Jean-Philippe Béland

Wikimédia Canada

On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 7:23 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

--

*Kind regards,Reem Al-Kashif*

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Hi Rajene,

It's not a black-and-white distinction but one of degrees. If I am in one of the best positions to describe a topic, why shouldn't I add such information to Wikipedia? One thing I ask myself: If someone not in my position added this information would it be accepted? If the answer is yes, then I have no qualms about adding such information. Is it promotion? To an extent it is, but it's information that others may have a difficult time acquiring.

You mention an "exhibit" but I feel that many library exhibits do not achieve notability by themselves (unless an accompanying book is published along with substantial reviews of the exhibit). If there's a lasting website exhibit, then I might add it as a link.

I know others have had difficulty adding links to archival resources, a problem which I've rarely had. I think the difference might be one of reputation. I'm active in several WikiProjects and have created/editing lots of articles, not all necessarily in my professed field (I'm a music librarian, yet I created article on what was the longest river in Manhattan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minetta_Creek - the article was assessed as a GA). In other words, my track record proves to the community that I'm not on Wikipedia for promotion, but I'm there to add to the encyclopedia.

Bob Kosovsky, Ph.D. -- Curator, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts blog: http://www.nypl.org/blog/author/44 Twitter: @kos2 Listowner: OPERA-L ; EXLIBRIS-L ; SMT-ANNOUNCE ; SoundForge-users - My opinions do not necessarily represent those of my institutions -

*Inspiring Lifelong Learning* | *Advancing Knowledge* | *Strengthening Our Communities *

On Fri, Oct 5, 2018 at 7:13 AM Rajene Hardeman vizzylane@gmail.com wrote:

Thanks Bob and all,

My real question was not about new editors trying to write about their own library;

My question is when you want to write about items in your collection, or historic events surrounding your location or an exhibit which could use encyclopedic fortification using resources from your library. Are you promoting your library collection/environment (conflict of interest) or are you adding relevant content to Wikipedia (using your expertise to provide sources). And how do you understand the boundary.

...

On Sep 20, 2018, at 6:48 PM, Bob Kosovsky bobkosovsky@nypl.org wrote:

the

---

Libraries mailing list Libraries@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/libraries

Different wikis are different. From what I have heard, German Wikipedia encourages people to write about their employers, while this would be very controversial on English Wikipedia. The standard I have heard most often is whether you are paid by the organization. Making a small edit like correcting an error in the hours of service or the address would not be controversial, but editing an article about your library or your boss would be. If you are being pressured to write about your institution, you can show them this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Conflict_of_interest Some people put a statement about their employer on their user page for transparency

The collection itself is a different question, since a non-profit exists to share information as a public service.

There's an interesting Conflict of Interest statement here: https://narations.blogs.archives.gov/2012/09/27/how-does-nara-avoid-conflict...

On Fri, Oct 5, 2018 at 10:55 AM Rajene Hardeman vizzylane@gmail.com wrote:

Thanks. We had a good session this past Wednesday with librarians new to Wikipedia and I referenced the bullet points Jake sent.

(p.s. This below email was a draft that I accidentally sent this morning. All is well)

On Oct 5, 2018, at 10:03 AM, Bob Kosovsky bobkosovsky@nypl.org wrote:

Hi Rajene,

It's not a black-and-white distinction but one of degrees. If I am in one of the best positions to describe a topic, why shouldn't I add such information to Wikipedia? One thing I ask myself: If someone not in my position added this information would it be accepted? If the answer is yes, then I have no qualms about adding such information. Is it promotion? To an extent it is, but it's information that others may have a difficult time acquiring.

You mention an "exhibit" but I feel that many library exhibits do not achieve notability by themselves (unless an accompanying book is published along with substantial reviews of the exhibit). If there's a lasting website exhibit, then I might add it as a link.

I know others have had difficulty adding links to archival resources, a problem which I've rarely had. I think the difference might be one of reputation. I'm active in several WikiProjects and have created/editing lots of articles, not all necessarily in my professed field (I'm a music librarian, yet I created article on what was the longest river in Manhattan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minetta_Creek - the article was assessed as a GA). In other words, my track record proves to the community that I'm not on Wikipedia for promotion, but I'm there to add to the encyclopedia.

Bob Kosovsky, Ph.D. -- Curator, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts blog: http://www.nypl.org/blog/author/44 Twitter: @kos2 Listowner: OPERA-L ; EXLIBRIS-L ; SMT-ANNOUNCE ; SoundForge-users

• My opinions do not necessarily represent those of my institutions -

*Inspiring Lifelong Learning* | *Advancing Knowledge* | *Strengthening Our Communities *

On Fri, Oct 5, 2018 at 7:13 AM Rajene Hardeman vizzylane@gmail.com wrote:

...

Thanks Bob and all,

My real question was not about new editors trying to write about their own library;

My question is when you want to write about items in your collection, or historic events surrounding your location or an exhibit which could use encyclopedic fortification using resources from your library. Are you promoting your library collection/environment (conflict of interest) or are you adding relevant content to Wikipedia (using your expertise to provide sources). And how do you understand the boundary.

...

On Sep 20, 2018, at 6:48 PM, Bob Kosovsky bobkosovsky@nypl.org wrote:

the

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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. * Read the History of a page * Turn on the Assessment options, so you can see the color and quality of a page * Read the Talk page * 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 + Librarieshttps://www.webjunction.org/explore-topics/wikipedia-libraries.html 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.edumailto: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.commailto: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

-- Kind regards, Reem Al-Kashif _______________________________________________ Libraries mailing list Libraries@lists.wikimedia.orgmailto:Libraries@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/libraries

Hey Reem,

I also wanted to turn your attention to the IFLA Opportunity papers -- there are a few years old, but provide a good overview of what has been happening in areas outside of Wikidata: https://www.ifla.org/node/11131

Cheers,

Alex

On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 9:53 AM, 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 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 https://www.webjunction.org/explore-topics/wikipedia-libraries.html 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

--

*Kind regards, Reem Al-Kashif*

---

Libraries mailing list Libraries@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/libraries

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You guys are amazing! Thank you so so much for this invaluable help and even offers for more help :) I read each and every email and I am currently just trying to organize my ideas. I will get back to you with my simplified envisioning of what should happen in that meeting.

On Mon, 17 Sep 2018 at 20:08, Isarra Yos zhorishna@gmail.com wrote:

I'd really like to stress that last point - with any group, the most important thing you can ask is what *they're* after, what they want to do, what will help them to do what interests them in general.

Based on that, you will be much more effective at determining which things to follow up on with them, based on what everyone here has suggested, because every group you talk to is going to be different, even if they are ostensibly a group of the same thing.

On 17/09/2018 13:26, Andromeda Yelton wrote:

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

--

*Kind regards, Reem Al-Kashif* _______________________________________________ Libraries mailing list Libraries@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/libraries

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Also to add on to this, to generalize wildly university librarians tend to care about: * maintaining, adding to, and describing correctly their library collection, and making the collection useful or comprehensive in some way (for instance a complete archive of one scientists papers, or useful to the students doing research; often different parts of the collection will have different goals) * assisting the researchers and faculty at the university do their research work, via providing access to materials, research tools such as indexes, and providing assistance and advice on using them * making information available to a wide audience, including through methods like supporting open access journals, digitizing materials, managing research data (eg making it available and described online), etc; and preserving that info for the long-term * assisting students in learning about their field and how to do research, including how to evaluate all kinds of information in context. * making the library an inviting and interesting place that assists people and that they want to use to learn about all kinds of things (not only their research subject).

The constraints are generally, money (books and journals cost a lot of money, as does maintaining buildings and computer systems), time (it both takes a long time to do many things and libraries focus on the long-term), space (physical and digital), coordination costs (it's hard to collaborate with many disparate goals and institutions), and adequate personnel to do all of this.

So our jobs often reflect one (or more) of these areas, and it is helpful to work on Wikipedia with those goals in mind as well.

best, Phoebe

On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 12:45 PM phoebe ayers phoebe.wiki@gmail.com wrote:

Hi Reem!

No one has addressed point 1 yet so:

• At universities there are different kinds of jobs in the library,

involving quite different work. Some librarians focus on acquiring and describing the material in the library. These people might be catalogers (if they focus on cataloging); acquisitions librarians (if they focus on buying or getting materials); or archivists (if they focus on older and rare or unique materials in archives). There are also librarians who focus on working with the students & staff of the university. They might be research librarians (there are different names for this) who specialize in doing research in one subject or many subjects. (For instance, my specialty is engineering, and my title is department liaison librarian, so I mainly work with engineering students and buy engineering materials, with a special focus on the EE & CS department). These librarians may assist with research, buy books, and teach classes as well as assisting faculty or researchers. Then there are librarians who specialize only in teaching, or only in metadata or technical work (like working on the website or database structures).

My suggestion if you don't know who you are meeting is to ask them what their jobs entail and what their concerns and interests are. Some of the things that I say to librarians are:

• students and researchers are using Wikipedia anyway, so it is in our

best interest to learn how it works and how to use it well (eg understanding the page history, how material is added, why is ar.wikipedia so much smaller than en.wikipedia?)

• if they teach students: teaching students to contribute to Wikipedia can

be an excellent pedagogical exercise that can help them learn to use the library, since Wikipedia *requires* references

• if they work with more advanced researchers: contributing to Wikipedia

or assisting others to do so can improve information about their subject for the public, and is an excellent way to disseminate good information about the subject. It can help students and researchers who do not have the opportunity of university.

• if they work with archives or old or unique materials, Wikipedia &

Wikimedia commons provides a free and open way to share information about objects and collections with the entire world (add free photos, archival descriptions, etc.)

• if they are more focused on the cataloging or database end, Wikidata can

be very interesting since it links open data in a way that libraries have been trying to do for a long time in their catalogs. For instance, the library catalog could add identifiers from Wikidata that would connect their authority records to catalogs around the world .

• if they are focused on the licensing and acquisitions end: Wikimedia is

an excellent argument for supporting open access efforts, since our readers would like to access the scholarly references that are cited.

• it's rather out of date but you can check here too:

https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Loves_Libraries for project ideas

Also I like to say that the missions of Wikimedia and libraries are aligned: we both want to make good information available to all, freely and openly.

I'm not sure of the politics of Egyptian libraries, but you could mention that we had Wikimania 2008 at the Biblioteca Alexandrina, a wonderful experience for many of us, and we had great conversations with those librarians about contributing digitized and older unique materials to Wikimedia Commons.

all best & good luck! Phoebe

On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 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

--

*Kind regards,Reem Al-Kashif* _______________________________________________ Libraries mailing list Libraries@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/libraries

--

• I use this address for lists; send personal messages to phoebe.ayers

<at> gmail.com *

Thanks, Reem, Phoebe, and All,

There's so so much potential with Wikimedia's ~300 languages for online university libraries!

Scott

Scott_WUaS

On 9:45AM, Mon, Sep 17, 2018 phoebe ayers phoebe.wiki@gmail.com wrote:

Hi Reem!

No one has addressed point 1 yet so:

• At universities there are different kinds of jobs in the library,

involving quite different work. Some librarians focus on acquiring and describing the material in the library. These people might be catalogers (if they focus on cataloging); acquisitions librarians (if they focus on buying or getting materials); or archivists (if they focus on older and rare or unique materials in archives). There are also librarians who focus on working with the students & staff of the university. They might be research librarians (there are different names for this) who specialize in doing research in one subject or many subjects. (For instance, my specialty is engineering, and my title is department liaison librarian, so I mainly work with engineering students and buy engineering materials, with a special focus on the EE & CS department). These librarians may assist with research, buy books, and teach classes as well as assisting faculty or researchers. Then there are librarians who specialize only in teaching, or only in metadata or technical work (like working on the website or database structures).

My suggestion if you don't know who you are meeting is to ask them what their jobs entail and what their concerns and interests are. Some of the things that I say to librarians are:

• students and researchers are using Wikipedia anyway, so it is in our

best interest to learn how it works and how to use it well (eg understanding the page history, how material is added, why is ar.wikipedia so much smaller than en.wikipedia?)

• if they teach students: teaching students to contribute to Wikipedia can

be an excellent pedagogical exercise that can help them learn to use the library, since Wikipedia *requires* references

• if they work with more advanced researchers: contributing to Wikipedia

or assisting others to do so can improve information about their subject for the public, and is an excellent way to disseminate good information about the subject. It can help students and researchers who do not have the opportunity of university.

• if they work with archives or old or unique materials, Wikipedia &

Wikimedia commons provides a free and open way to share information about objects and collections with the entire world (add free photos, archival descriptions, etc.)

• if they are more focused on the cataloging or database end, Wikidata can

be very interesting since it links open data in a way that libraries have been trying to do for a long time in their catalogs. For instance, the library catalog could add identifiers from Wikidata that would connect their authority records to catalogs around the world .

• if they are focused on the licensing and acquisitions end: Wikimedia is

an excellent argument for supporting open access efforts, since our readers would like to access the scholarly references that are cited.

• it's rather out of date but you can check here too: https://outreach.

wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Loves_Libraries for project ideas

Also I like to say that the missions of Wikimedia and libraries are aligned: we both want to make good information available to all, freely and openly.

I'm not sure of the politics of Egyptian libraries, but you could mention that we had Wikimania 2008 at the Biblioteca Alexandrina, a wonderful experience for many of us, and we had great conversations with those librarians about contributing digitized and older unique materials to Wikimedia Commons.

all best & good luck! Phoebe

On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 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* _______________________________________________ Libraries mailing list Libraries@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/libraries

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