and summarized developments in use of Wikipedia in higher education at the EduWiki Serbia conference held in Belgrade in March 2014. He has supported Wikipedia training events and edit-a-thons including session at the LILAC 2014 information literacy conference.[1]
There are initiatives in the Wikipedia community to expand librarian involvement. “Wikipedia Loves Libraries” is a general initiative for improved Wikimedia engagement with libraries (and archives), and more concretely an annual campaign of wiki-workshops and edit-a-thons at libraries around Open Access Week in October/November.[2] Events for each year can be viewed at the Wikipedia Loves Libraries Portal.[3]
Wikipedia is a democratic crowdsourced reference tool that needs a more inclusive cadre of editors—more women (only about 12% of contributors are women) and more people from diverse backgrounds.[4] Managing knowledge, preserving knowledge, and sharing knowledge is central to the work of a librarian. Wikipedia as a resource is covered by the first point in the Library Bill of Rights: “Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation."[5] And use of Wikipedia is also covered by the Code of Ethics of the American Library Association: “We provide the highest level of service to all library users through appropriate and usefully organized resources; equitable service policies; equitable access; and accurate, unbiased, and courteous responses to all requests.”[6]
Given that mastery of Wikipedia is simply an extension of the librarian’s skill set from scrolls, to codices, to digital collection, isn’t it time that the page “Wikipedian Librarians”[7] adds thousands?
NOTES
- ↑ Brian Kelly, “Editing Wikipedia: Why You Should and How You Can Support Your Users” program presented at the CILIP Cymru Wales Library and Information Conference 2014 - “Making a difference: libraries and their communities.” http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/events/cilip-wales-2014-editing-wikipedia/ Accessed May .
- ↑ Wikipedia: Wikipedia Loves Libraries. https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Loves_Libraries, Accessed May 27, 2014.
- ↑ Wikipedia Loves Libraries. Portal. https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Loves_Libraries. , Accessed May 27, 2014.
- ↑ Gender gap. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gender_gap. Accessed May 27, 2014.
- ↑ Library Bill of Rights. http://www.ifmanual.org/lbor. Accessed May 27, 2014.
- ↑ Code of Ethics of the American Library Association. http://www.ifmanual.org/codeethics. Accessed May 27, 2014.
- ↑ Wikipedian Librarians. Accessed May 27, 2014. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikipedian_librarians
