GLAM/How librarians can help

This page serves to collect ideas for university staff, in libraries and teaching & learning centers especially, to be involved in the Wikipedia movement. Please share your experiences with others! And of course, if you've organized the activity on your campus in the past, please feel free to share your experiences and add some pictures (if available).

Ways libraries can help

• General editing: Librarians can contribute to Wikipedia in the same way as everyone else can by being writers and editors,etc. Libraries also are in a good position to improve Wikipedia articles by linking their collection to Wikipedia by adding external links or photos. For example, if the library maintains a digital library that has photos or other documents that are related to a Wikipedia article, they can add the images to the article, if appropriate, or they can add a link to the library content as an external link. They can also improve references on Wikipedia by adding citations to books, etc. on articles that need additional citations.

• Library collection improvement: In addition, librarians can write or improve articles on topics that are a part of the library collection. For example, if the library has a special collection such as a digital library or a library like the Lilly library at Indiana University they can improve or create new articles on topics related to the collection. The Lilly library has many unique children's books (http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/overview/lit_child.shtml) that have articles on Wikipedia. A librarian at the Lilly familiar with these books could help improve the articles on Wikipedia or write an article if one is not available (for example, The History of Little Goody Two Shoes).

• Wikipedia education: Librarians are also in a good position to help people better understand Wikipedia. Part of the work of librarians is to help students,etc become information literate and improve digital /media literacy skills. Librarians could teach courses to other librarians or to students to help students understand how information is created on Wikipedia:
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Evaluating_Wikipedia_article_quality_2010-11-26_(web).pdf
  • Librarian FAQs.

There are many myths or misunderstandings about Wikipedia, librarians can work to dispel some of that.

Examples

• The British Library has a project page that acts as a hub for all pages on Wikipedia relating to the museum. This clearly draws attention to some very concrete tasks.