Page:Bringing Wikimedians into the Conversation at Libraries.pdf/8

Wikimedia Community, including a Wikipedia + Libraries Group, that can help you find fellow librarians or supporters who can work with you remotely.^[1]

Creating Wikimedians in Your Community

Once you define the Wikimedia activity that you want to pursue, whether it’s an editathon or upload of open access content, or if you want to create a regular editing group to focus on a particular topic, it's important to bring volunteer capacity to the projects.^[2]

Wikimedia’s culture of bold volunteerism with a very low barrier to entry, means that Wikimedia volunteers often have a range of motivations, capacities and organizational skills that may or may not meet the needs of more formal institutions. Additionally, Wikimedia volunteers may invest a large amount of energy in projects in which they find a passion or connection with the needs of other communities--but like all projects of passion, that enthusiasm can wane, or you might find that your local Wikimedians don’t want to focus on the topics you are interested in. So what do you do then?

The best approach is to develop new interest in Wikimedia contributions from other volunteer communities in your local context, who can attend local events. Typically these new contributors can come from hobbyists or volunteers already associated with your organization or similar heritage organizations. Local community groups may offer some of the best allies: for example, local history societies (the city of Swansea in South Wales has over 100 active historical societies) and social, charitable and educational groups of all sorts. There is also a growing number of individuals prepared to volunteer at libraries and other cultural institutions. These communities frequently are interested in communicating knowledge in your context, many of whom publish their own journals, newsletters and books. For librarians looking to increase engagement with local communities, Wikipedia offers a ready built platform, in multiple languages, where local communities can work with their local libraries to improve Wikipedia content relating to their interests or expertise.

Case Study​: Catalan language Wikipedia has a relatively limited geography where they can expect to find volunteers for the project: in Catalan speaking Spain and France. By

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1. For the active communication channels, see the listing at https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Mailing_lists
2. For an overview of various models of projects persued by previous GLAM contributors, see https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Model_projects