Looking forward, TWL has several priority areas and projects to pursue:
For editors, TWL is working on technical solutions and infrastructure. Chief among these is the Library Card Platform, a central application system for tracking signups and delivering access to high-quality research material. The aim is to provide many of the features that are expected from a research library: direct proxy authentication to sources, full-feature search discovery, and integrated reference service. Another project involves supporting the development of Librarybase, an environment which stores Wikipedia’s citations as structured metadata, with an API that can give research recommendations based on bibliographic structure.
For readers, our focus includes developing information and research literacy resources, as well as a universal reference service for all readers regardless of location or affiliation. We hope to reach a day where Wikipedia provides on-demand access for all Wikipedia readers to citations in research, as well as OpenURL referral to library resources, and links to full-text Open Access (OA) versions of paywalled content.
With libraries and librarians, TWL wants to engage reference experts to help us improve our shared digital research ecosystem. Since many library patrons use Wikipedia and its sister sites, librarians should have strategies for supporting Wikimedia projects, including understanding how content is created and maintained by becoming editors themselves. To that end, engagement with professional networks such as the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) and the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) will help librarians work with their patrons in
