Quoted from the archives listserv:
"Inspired by the listserv's Wikipedia discussion a few months back, I began adding links to our finding aids, as well as occasional content, to relevant Wikipedia articles. I followed the advice given on here the list and created an account, and put a short note on my talk page explaining what types of articles I would be contributing to.
When I checked my watchlist yesterday, I found a message asking me to view this discussion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Spam#Unusual_univers...
I, along with 2 or 3 other library/archives types, have been flagged as a possible spammer for adding these links. Another contributor attempted to explain how libraries are trying to reach out to users, how links to actual primary sources are useful, etc., but the argument doesn't seem to be getting through. I have not yet contributed to the conversation but feel I should, and am trying to figure out the best tack to take.
Does anyone know if this discussion has already taken place elsewhere on Wikipedia? It seems unlikely that these users are the first to raise the question, and if it's been discussed (and resolved?) elsewhere on the site it would be nice to point them toward that conversation. Otherwise I was thinking of pointing them to the D-Lib article by Ann Lally and Carolyn Dunford (http://www.dlib.org/dlib/may07/lally/05lally.html), which more fully explains the reasons libraries and archives are doing this.
It seems that the trend of libraries and archives contributing to Wikipedia is only going to keep growing, so people like this objector are probably fighting a losing battle. But in the meantime, it would be nice to be able to convince them that telling people about primary sources related to the article topic is actually a useful exercise (not to mention convincing them not to delete all the links they find from archives).
Any advice from you Wikipedia-savvy types out there would be greatly appreciated!
Julie Kerssen, Archivist Seattle Municipal Archives"
My opinion: It is a legitimate aim of archives or libraries to hint users to primary sources. We should be glad to get such contributions which are in no way spam.
Dr. Klaus Graf University archivist at the RWTH Aachen