4:15 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
You know the incredible usage of Wikipedia: the fifth-most-visited web- site on the entire internet, with more than 500 million visitors each month who collectively view it 8000 times every second. Wikipedia has the viewership libraries crave to bring people to do deeper research. By connecting knowledge institutions and Wikipedia, we can complete a virtuous circle of research and dissemination. This session highlights how libraries can leverage and collaborate with Wikipedia. OCLC is working with the Wikipedia Library to develop a tool based on its WorldCat KnowledgeBase API which will allow institutionally affiliated readers to click directly from Wikipedia article references to full text at their own university's holdings. A successful 2014 pilot included Rutgers, Montana State, George Washington, and the University of California-Riverside. Other tools being developed include Training for Library Interns and Librarians, Wikipedia Guide for Archivists, University Library Portal, and Wikipedia Education program efforts to bring Wikipedia into the classroom through coursework that builds digital literacy while contributing to the encyclopedia. This session explores how effective Wikipedia is for library users, as well as ‘thinking big' opportunities for libraries and the research collaborations with Wikipedia. What if every publisher donated 1000 accounts to the top Wikipedia editors in that subject? What if every library or research institution had an affiliated Wikipedian on staff? What if every reference on Wikipedia had a link to the full-text source next to it? What if libraries made their collections more visible on the world's largest free encyclopedia? That's the goal, with Wikipedia as the starting point for deeper research adventures in the library's resources.
