Edit 2023/Wikipedia Initiatives at Local Canadian Public Libraries: 2024/Main Page

This submission has been accepted for WikiConference North America 2023.

This presentation, conducted by Milton Public Library's Wikipedian-in-Residence, will go over recent initiatives into community outreach programs while using Wikipedia as a pedagogical tool. In particular, we will present teen outreach programs in Wikipedia workshops, known to the community as 'Wikipedia at the Beehive' with both its spring and summer 2023 cohorts. Goals and impacts have included filling knowledge gaps from curriculum and teaching digital literacy in Wikipedia editing, and the emphasis on the importance of the public library space for accessible knowledge and community skill enhancement. This session will highlight aspects of our programming which are unique to the residency, including having a Canadian-perspective, a rural/suburban-based target audience, and the strengths and challenges of being a local, public library (as opposed to a larger academic or special library).