Hi all,
We've just published a blog post summarising the new features and functionality available to active Wikipedia editors in The Wikipedia Library: https://diff.wikimedia.org/2022/01/19/the-wikipedia-library-accessing-free-r...
The Wikipedia Library is a tool providing active Wikipedia editors with free access to otherwise-paywalled resources, including journals, books, newspapers, magazines, and databases. Over the past 5-10 years the library has built up a large collection of content from a wide range of publishers.
In the past couple of years we've been finalising the centralised Wikipedia Library tool used for accessing all this content: https://wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org/. I'm really pleased to announce that we've finished work on some long-requested and planned features which make it really simple to use!
The library now has:
- Proxy-based authentication for direct access of resources without a secondary login - A centralised search feature for browsing multiple collections from one place - An on-wiki notification to let editors know about the library when they have crossed the eligibility threshold (rolling out in stages throughout January)
As the project I first joined the Wikimedia Foundation to work on years ago I'm personally thrilled that we've finally been able to deploy all these features!
If you're eligible to use the library (500+ edits, 6+ months editing) you can jump in and start using the library straight away. We're now working on expanding and diversifying the content available in the library, so let us know on the suggestions page if there are collections you want us to make available: https://wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org/suggest/
If the tool isn't currently localised into your language, you can translate it on TranslateWiki: https://translatewiki.net/wiki/Translating:Wikipedia_Library_Card_Platform
We're planning to host some Office Hours, which will be a chance to get a walkthrough of how to use the library, as well as discuss your research needs and requests for new collections with the team. Look out for more on that in the coming weeks.