Conclusion
The impact of the OTS pilot so far demonstrates that a full-time position dedicated to Wikimedia and other open technology projects holds great potential to better link open-access library resources and archival and special collections to the Web. By enabling consistent support for Wikimedia activities, staff across UTL’s large and decentralized system have been empowered to meet their users where they are and increase discovery and use of their collections with greater ease. is sustained staff development resulting in high-impact benefits to library and institutional priorities have come at a low cost, requiring only the flexible investment of staff time.
Beyond experimentation, open technology engagement requires extended support and maintenance in order to achieve lasting impact. WIR and OTS programs can be piloted to explore Wikimedia activities in the library and to introduce those activities to library staff when and where appropriate, laying the groundwork for additional investment of staffing resources and the incorporation of Wikimedia activities into existing work flows and job portfolios.
Notes
1 For example, many artifacts in the Discovery and Early Development of Insulin collection are published material (e.g., articles and newspaper clippings), which can be cited with minimal interpretation. is collection also benefits from readily available secondary sources that make sense of the collection and offer the reader an opportunity to cross-reference the published histories with the original sources.
2 For collections such as The Barren Lands: J. B. Tyrrell’s Expeditions for the Geological Survey of Canada, 1892–1894, the WIR had found it necessary to cultivate capacity for edits informed by Indigenous perspectives, and to do so in collaboration with concerned communities.
3 See: History of diabetes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_diabetes), Connaught Laboratories (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connaught_Laboratories), and Academy of Medicine of Toronto (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_of_Medicine_of_Toronto).
4 Toolkits and documentation are available on: https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/University_of_Toronto_Libraries/Resources
