Submissions:2016/Libraries & Wikipedia: Better Together

Title

Theme

outreach, GLAM

Academic Peer Review option

n

Type of submission

panel

Author

Phoebe Ayers

E-mail address

phoebe.ayers@gmail.com

Username

Phoebe

Affiliation

MIT Libraries, Wikimedia New England

Abstract

In the last few years there has been an explosion of initiatives to connect libraries and librarians with the Wikimedia projects. Many librarians have run outreach efforts at their institutions, from staff trainings to public edit-a-thons, and institutions ranging from ARL libraries to library consortiums are hosting Wikipedians-in-residence. The Wikimedia Foundation is supporting the Wikipedia library project. Libraries and library organizations around the world are interested in collaborations, ranging from outreach and education to technical initiatives to improve citations and linked open data. But while momentum is growing and libraries represent natural partners for the Wikimedia projects, community outreach efforts to date have not often focused on the unique challenges and opportunities that Wikipedia-library partnerships represent.

As information professionals grapple with working with the world's largest reference source, what kinds of projects work and which don't? What are some ideas on the horizon, and what are some ways we can work together as a profession to do large-scale initiatives? This session will feature short presentations of model projects from a number of librarian-Wikipedians (TBC) who have done Wikipedia projects in libraries, with an extensive moderated audience discussion following. Participants will leave inspired with ideas to bring back to their institutions and knowledge of resources and other people doing similar work. (Followup discussion can be held as part of the unconference meetup).

Length of presentation

45 minutes (or more if there's more time)

Special schedule requests

might be useful to schedule after Merrilee Proffitt's keynote

Preferred room size

large

Will you attend WikiConference North America if your submission is not accepted?

yes :)

Interested attendees

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