I just wanted to say thanks to Jake and everyone who has worked on the Wikipedia Library project -- this is a really cool and exciting set of initiatives. I've seen a lot of interest lately from libraries in various Wikipedia projects, and this outreach is definitely a big part of that.
Also, a pitch/reminder: if anyone is interested in discussing library projects and Wikimedia, we do have a separate mailing list here: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/libraries that everyone is welcome to join. best, phoebe On Thu, Dec 5, 2013 at 10:16 AM, Jake Orlowitz <[email protected]> wrote: > Books & Bytes > > Volume 1, Issue 2, November 2013 > > by The Interior (talk =B7 contribs), Ocaasi (talk =B7 contribs) > > Sign up for monthly delivery: > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Library/Newsletter/Re= > cipients > > Read online: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Library/= > Newsletter/November_2013 > > > Wikipedia Library Highlights > > New accounts survey > > TWL is in discussions with several database providers to start new > pilot programs for research account donations. Two of the largest > research database organizations in the world, EBSCO Publishing and > ProQuest, are both interested in learning which of their database > services Wikipedians would be most interested in receiving. TWL has > put together a survey to help with this, as well as gather more > general information about usage, editor satisfaction and the direction > Wikipedians would like to see their library moving in. The brief > Google Forms survey takes 5-10 minutes, and will be sent out this week > to TWL subscribers. > > JSTOR expired, extended > > The JSTOR pilot program, which gave 100 free accounts to top article > writers, expired this month. Thanks to Steven Walling, an extension > until the end of January was secured. Talks with JSTOR are ongoing to > keep this valuable resource available free of charge to editors. Sign > up for JSTOR. > > New Metrics > > New data from the Credo Partnership showed a 500% increase in links to > the site in total since the program began. With much larger numbers in > general, and a shorter time frame, the HighBeam increase of 390% as of > May 2013 is also of interest. Special thanks to Johnuniq for compiling > this data. If you are data-inclined, TWL always needs help compiling > statistics. These stats are useful not only to our current partners, > but also to encouraging prospective new partners to make donations. > > Help Needed: TWL Account Coordinator > > TWL is seeking a manager for the coordinated dispersal of donated > accounts. The role involves watchlisting the application pages, > vetting candidates using a fairly simple set of requirements (1 year > activity, 1000 edits on any Wikimedia projects, having email enabled > and an expressed desire to use the account for article work), and then > emailing the access codes to users. As it stands, this would be not > more 1-2 hours of work a week (though it will when new accounts are > announced). Great communication and responsiveness so that subscribers > get prompt replies to their applications is a must. If you are > interested, please get in touch with The Interior or Ocaasi. Apply to > be the new Account Coordinator. > > Wikipedia Visiting Scholars > > Along with the announcement of a position at George Mason University, > a second institution plans to host a Wikipedia Visiting Scholar > placement - University of California at Riverside Library.More details > on this partnership should be announced in December and over a dozen > universities are interested in attending an information session about > the program in January. Also in December, George Mason will be seeking > applications for their position. For more information on the Visiting > Scholar program, see http://enwp.org/WP:WVS. Sign up to be a Wikipedia Visiting > Scholar. > > TWL presents: American Library Association's mid-winter meeting > > The ALA is the largest library organization in the U.S. TWL has been > accepted to present at their mid-winter conference in Philadelphia on > January 25th from 1:30 to 3:00pm. The session will introduce academic > librarians from around the country to the role Wikipedia can play in > learning and research. We will use the session both to introduce TWL's > mission and scope, and then to kick-off the Wikipedia Visiting > Scholars program with an overview of the initiative and plenty of time > for planning and questions. Over a dozen top universities have > expressed interest in attending, which bodes very well for the future > placing Wikipedians in official research affiliate positions. > > New Talk: The Future of Libraries and Wikipedia > > Ocaasi gave the first presentation of The Future of Libraries and > Wikipedia to George Mason University. GMU Professor and THATcamp > coordinator Amanda French brought students and librarians together for > the event. The talk highlights the mission and pillars of Wikipedia, > the Wikipedia Library's 5 goals, and 13 to explore the question, What > if Wikipedia's was the internet's library? > > > > Spotlight on people: Another Believer and Wiki Loves Libraries > > Books & Bytes was pleased to interview two of the community's Wiki > Loves Libraries event coordinators, IJethroBT and AnotherBeliever. > This fall, both organised edit-a-thons, one in Chicago, and others in > Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington. For this issue, we will > present Another Believer=92s interview. Be sure to catch the December > issue to hear about IJethroBT=92s experiences. > > Another Believer is Jason Moore, a Wikipedian based in Portland, > Oregon. He works on articles on music and the arts, among other > topics, and has been editing since 2007. He has organized three > library-related edit-a-thons in the Portland area. His most recent > event was at the Vancouver Community Library. > > What first attracted you to organising WLL events? > > My introduction to "real life" Wikipedia activity was an invitation to > participate in an outreach project at the Wikimedia Foundation offices > in San Francisco in 2010, followed by the Wikipedia 10 celebration in > Portland, Oregon in 2011. From then on, I was hooked. I had found a > community where my obsession with research, writing and the mission of > Wikipedia required no explaining. I continued attending meetups and > networking with Wikipedians, both online and offline. It was at > Wikimania in Washington, D.C. where I received a thorough introduction > to the GLAM-Wiki initiative, which promotes collaboration between the > Wikipedia community and cultural institutions. Later that year, I was > invited to help Multnomah County Library host an edit-athon at > Portland's Central Library. The opportunity was appealing, giving > purpose for a local meetup and a way for me to trial collaborating > with a cultural institution. > > In your opinion, are library edit-a-thons a good way to recruit new editors > ? > > Absolutely. There are always challenges with recruiting and retaining > editors, but it certainly makes sense for the largest and most popular > reference work on the Internet to collaborate with institutions that > exist to collect and make information resources available to the > public. People who visit their local libraries might be the type of > individuals who enjoy conducting research, or see value in sharing > information. Libraries and Wikipedia both have an educational > component, and partnering with cultural institutions certainly brings > legitimacy to the latter. Even with limited resources, libraries have > the ability to assist with outreach efforts and organizing meetups. > > At your events, do you see more brand new editors, or editors with > some prior experience? > > Events tend to attract both new and experienced editors. Often I > distribute invitations to meetups on-wiki, which obviously attracts > people who have already created accounts and have a habit of checking > their talk page, even if only occasionally. Brand new editors are > usually attracted by the institution itself, whether the participants > are curious staff, volunteers, or members of the public. Generally, > forms of outreach by the library include event listings on the website > and event calendar, on-site signage, and perhaps a regional library > newsletter. > > What can libraries do to make WLL events more successful? > > Offer incentives to increase traffic. These do not have to be costly > or complicated. Perhaps a behind-the-scenes tour of the library, or a > promotional partnership with another institution. For example, how > cool would it be if a library associated with an art museum offered > free admission to a special exhibit? Or a staff member offered a > private tour of the permanent collection, followed by an edit-athon > where Wikipedians wrote articles about notable artists or works of > art? There are ways to make editing interactive and fun. At the > library events I have attended, librarians have been great about being > prepared and having select resources pulled from the shelves and > available for attendees. This eliminates the need for editors to spend > time searching for materials. > > You have organised several events over the years. How has your > methodology changed since your first event? > > My methodology has changed little. The process begins with contact and > planning with the institution, outreach and invitation distribution to > Wikipedians and the public, and a request for educational and/or > promotional materials from the Wikimedia Foundation. It is important > to make sure the event space can accommodate a group of reasonable > size and provides enough electrical outlets. Refreshments and extra > laptops are not required, but always appreciated. The day of the > event, I greet my contact(s), set up the space, distribute materials > and generally make myself available to participants. Sometimes there > is a specific agenda, but often there are enough new contributors that > much of my time is spent answering questions, registering new users, > providing an overview of Wikipedia, and helping with first edits.My > methods have not changed, but I have learned that sometimes it can be > beneficial to market some events to experienced Wikipedians and others > to new users; mixing the two groups is never problematic, but new and > experienced contributors have different motivations for attending. A > group of experienced users can quickly generate content and > collaborate on more challenging tasks, while new users often require > lots of attention. I appreciate both groups, but recognize that mixing > them does not always create the most productive environment. > > How have library staff responded to your event proposals? > > Librarians have responded positively, but I must confess that for each > of the three library events that I have hosted, I was invited by the > librarians themselves. I am willing to conduct outreach, but more > often my problem is that I receive more invitations than I can > accommodate. Regardless of the method of contact, the librarians I > have worked with express an appreciation for Wikipedia and an > understanding that this online reference work is unavoidable, serving > an important purpose in our society. In each case, I felt that the > librarians trusted my abilities and appreciated my willingness to > collaborate with their institution. > > Which works better a focused approach. We will work on X,Y, and Z > during the edit-a-thon. or a looser approach, Just drop by and work > on what you want to? > > This is a great question, but one I find difficult to answer. Both > approaches can work well, depending on who is in attendance and the > general purpose of the event. If content generation is the goal, focus > is better. For a general meetup, or an advertised "introduction to > Wikipedia," a looser approach is more appropriate. > > What are some things to avoid when hosting an event? > > When I host an event, I assume the role of facilitator. I do not > dictate how the meetup should be, or set firm expectations. I would > never make anyone feel out of line for expressing their opinion, or > stupid for asking questions. > > If you had one piece of advice for a new WLL event organiser, what would it > be? > > Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to attend GLAM Boot Camp in > Washington, D.C., where a guest speaker expressed the following words > of wisdom that resonated with me: "one is better than none." In the > context of event organizing, this means that there is nothing wrong > with simply proposing and time and location for a meetup and then > seeing if others are willing to join. It might take a few attempts to > mobilize a small community. If I had a second piece of advice, it > would be to have a good relationship with the librarian(s) or other > contacts involved, make sure expectations are set, and align your > reasons for hosting the event. > > Upcoming in December: Wiki Loves Libraries events > > Open History: Queens and Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon - December 6 at Queens > Library, New York, NY > > If you're hosting a library event in December or January, please add > it to collaborations page on Outreach Wiki and we'll put it in the > newsletter! > > > > Books & Bytes Briefly > > LOC considers Wikipedia's disambiguation: The Library of Congress > Subject Headings, an authoritative classification system in use in > libraries all over the world, is an ever-evolving entity. In an > article in the e-journal Library Philosophy and Practice, the author > suggests that the LCSH should adopt Wikipedia-style disambiguation > terms. Read the full article here via the University of Nebraska > Library. (PDF) > > Dewey Deleted? An interesting Articles for Deletion discussion for our > article List of Dewey Decimal classes explored aspects of copyright > relating to the venerable library system. In related news, OCLC has > begun to consider broadening Dewey's license from CC-BY-NC-ND > (non-commercial, non-derivative) to CC-BY. > > CC 4.0: Creative Commons, which created and maintains Wikipedia's > CC-BY-SA license, released version 4.0 of their widely used protocol. > The Open Knowledge Foundation highlighted the key changes. > > OA Button Goes live: Open-Access Button, a new lightweight set of > browser extensions to highlight when readers hit academic paywalls was > released this month. You can get the button and let the world know > when journal paywalls inhibit the free flow of knowledge and research. > > OAuth released: The Wikimedia Foundation finished it's implementation > of OAuth. This has big implications for TWL research access > integration, because it would let editors sign into third-party > websites using only their Wikipedia login. The WMF blog the details. > > TWL Logo? A discussion was started about a TWL Logo, thinking about > adapting existing community logos or starting from scratch. TWL would > like to host a new logo competition in the next few months. Please > join the discussion. > > December GLAMOUT: Wikipedia's GLAM consortium is hosting an online > discussion Friday, Dec. 6 at 3pm (EDT). There is one spot left to > participate, and anyone can listen in through Google Hangouts. > > The Wikipedia Adventure game goes beta: A new game which teaches how > to edit Wikipedia in about an hour was released this week. TWA may be > useful to librarians, education classes, and editathons as a friendly > and interactive introduction to Wikipedia's technical, social, and > policy best practices. > > Diversity Conference in Berlin: Hosted by WMDE, the event kicked off a > global push to add Diversity to Wikipedia contributors and content at > the first ever Wikimedia Diversity Conference. WMF blog has a nice > overview of the event. You can sign on to the intiative at > Meta:Diversity. TWL is always interested in ways to broaden our > community and our content with better outreach and research. > > Free textbooks: ChemWiki, a program to create free and open chemistry > textbooks received a grant of $250,000 from the National Science > Foundation. The site nets over 2 million visitors a month. > > Open access and museums: The Mellon Foundation published Images of > Works of Art in Museum Collections: The Experience of Open Access A > Study of 11 Museums. > > > Further reading > > There's lots of great digital library information online. Check out > these neat resources for more library exploring. > > The Digital Shift: http://www.thedigitialshift.com > In the library with the lead pipe: http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.o= > rg > Code4Lib: http://code4lib.org/ > Digital Public Library of America: http://dp.la > > > The Wikipedia Library > > partners > Credo > HighBeam > Questia > JSTOR > Cochrane > OCLC > > resources > Reference Desk > Resource Exchange > Resource Guides > Book Sources > Online archives > > wikiprojects > Libraries > OA > Bibliographies > Books > Journals > Citation > Unreferenced > Fact check > > outreach > Wikipedia Loves Libraries > GLAM > WMF Grant > > Thanks for reading! To receive a monthly talk page update about new > issues of Books and Bytes, please add your name to the subscriber's > list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Library/Newslet= > ter/Recipients > > To suggest items for the next issue, please contact the editor, The > Interior at https://Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Library /Newsletter/Suggestions. > > -Jake Orlowitz (Ocaasi) > @JakeOrlowitz > [email protected] > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list > [email protected] > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe> -- * I use this address for lists; send personal messages to phoebe.ayers <at> gmail.com * _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe>
