Library people: We all know our patrons use Wikipedia. We use Wikipedia. It’s a pretty awesome tool! But it can be better!! We are passing on some information about strategies you can use to help Wikipedia to be better and more accurate.
Try it for yourself! Set up a Wikipedia event in your library! Use this as a starting point to make our of our frequently-used resources to be stronger!
From the press release:
We are getting ready for Wikipedia’s #1lib1ref campaign. Last year we made a big impact with our call to “Imagine a World where Every Librarian Adds One More Reference to Wikipedia.” The 2017 event will be even bigger, from January 15 through February 3. And we want your help!
Wikipedia’s strength is in its references, the source of Wikipedia’s reliability. #1lib1ref is the library community coming together to give us a most precious gift: a citation. We hope the experience of #1lib1ref can provide tools and experience to help librarians critically integrate Wikipedia into the broader research and information literacy landscape.
We are looking for you and your institutions to be bold and:
- Share the campaign with your networks through mailing lists, blogs and other conversations with peers and colleagues. Some institutions last year, wrote about Wikipedia and Libraries during #1lib1ref:
- John Hopkins University Blog: http://hub.jhu.edu/2016/01/15/librarians-wikipedia-15/
- ACRL TechConnect: http://acrl.ala.org/techconnect/post/1lib1ref
- State Library of New South Wales: http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/blogs/lib1ref-even-wikipedia-needs-librarians-too
- Host a “Coffee Hour” event, where you and your colleagues gather for an hour to learn how to add a reference and talk about Wikipedia’s evolving role in librarianship: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library/1Lib1Ref/Coffee_Kit
- Help raise awareness and excitement on social media by spreading the hashtag #1lib1ref on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, etc.
- Participate in the campaign and add a citation yourself!
For information on coordinating activities, please check out the campaign page at 1lib1ref.org or ask questions at https://www.facebook.com/groups/WikiLibrary.
We’re excited for another great year of improving Wikipedia by reaching out to librarians.
– Jake Orlowitz and the Wikipedia Library Team