[WikiEN-l] Wikipedia and libraries

[phoebe ayers]

On Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 4:33 AM, Carcharoth <carcharothwp at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Noticed this article about UK libraries and I thought the mentions of
> Wikipedia would be of interest.
>
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12340505
>
> The Andrew Dalby mentioned there is presumably:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Andrew_Dalby
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Dalby
>
> Author of:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_and_Wikipedia
>
> [Bit off-topic, but has anyone read that book?]
>
> Does anyone here (particularly in the UK) use libraries regularly for
> Wikipedia work?
>
> What about public libraries in the USA and other countries? Are they
> well-funded or not?
>
> Carcharoth

I know of no place where libraries are as well-funded as they would
like to be :) Libraries in the US are often poorly funded because they
depend on local tax revenue (city or county). In a recession, when
people don't buy as many goods and there are not as many real estate
sales, this local revenue can drop dramatically and the corresponding
impact on libraries (as on public schools and other social services)
can be dramatic.
See e.g. http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/libfunding/public/index.cfm
for a sense of this across the U.S.

These cuts affect all the services libraries provide -- everything
from internet access for people who don't otherwise have it, to
helping kids learn to read, to buying good books and reference
materials for the community. Libraries are often the only common
indoor public space in a community, and are certainly the only such
spaces devoted to learning and research.

And I certainly hope you all are using libraries for your Wikipedia
work! It would make it much more difficult to find good sources if you
weren't.

-- phoebe, who's a librarian :)


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