GLAM/Newsletter/March 2016/Contents/UK report

This Month in GLAM – Volume VI, Issue III, March 2016

UK report

GLAM Marches on in the UK

Museums Galleries Scotland

Sara Thomas' residency at Museums Galleries Scotland, the national development body for the museum sector in Scotland, is ongoing. An Art+Feminism editathon was held at the National Portrait Gallery on 5 March, where 6 new articles were created, and 8 improved. On 31 March an editathon was held at Glasgow Women's Library where 3 new articles were created, 5 improved, and 10 images added to the commons.

Sara also spoke at the Scottish Library and Information Council's Digital Champions meeting at the Mitchell Library on 29 March.

With only 2 months left in this residency, a good deal of work is being put in to make the most of the time remaining. More information is available on the project page, including the 12 month report, which covers the period Jan 2015 - Jan 2016.

National Library of Wales

The Wikipedian in Residence at the National Library of Wales continued in his role. This month the National Library held an Art and Feminism Edit-a-thon as part of the global campaign. 15 Volunteers attended, including 11 Women. 10 new articles were created and 12 were greatly improved.

The Resident Wikipedian delivered a lecture about Wikipedia and the Natural Sciences to Royal Society of Chemistry members at Aberystwyth University.

The National Library uploaded 8 high quality artworks to Commons as part of the Europeana 280 project and staff will hold an edit-a-thon in April to improve related Wiki content.

And finally, the National Library of Wales became the first UK institution to take part in the Wikipedia Visiting Scholars scheme, which was established by the Wiki Education Foundation.

Oxford

The end of March was the end of Martin Poulter's one-year contract as Wikimedian In Residence at the Bodleian Libraries. Some work is continuing in unpaid time. The funding bid for a Wikimedian In Residence at the University of Oxford has passed the first two hurdles in a series of four. If successful, the University post would last one year starting in June.

Nearly 4,000 images were uploaded this month, mainly from manuscripts in the collection of the Bodleian Library. These manuscripts are in Latin, Hebrew, Old English and Old French and include musical notation, charts and calendars, portraits and depictions of Biblical scenes. See the gallery on Commons for examples.

Oxford hosted an edit-a-thon on "Women and Wikipedia" with seven trainees. To support the event, St Hilda's College and Lady Margaret Hall (two former women-only colleges) contributed to Wikimedia for the first time, each sharing four images from their archives.

One of the trainees at the edit-a-thon was an archivist who is working on a funded project. She and a colleague aim to improve the Wikipedia article about en:Mabel Purefoy FitzGerald as one of the outcomes of the project. It has been suggested by senior staff at the university that Wikimedia outreach should be costed into research project bids under the heading of impact, and this is an idea I'm promoting.