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Timeline for Wikipedia + Libraries

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Timeline Date
Awareness Campaign Begins December 2016
Wikipedian-in-Residence at OCLC Begins February 2017
Registration for national online training for librarians Begins Summer 2017
Training sessions Begins September 2017
Wikimedia Foundation Project Grant term ends November 2017
Knight News Challenge Grant term ends May 2018


Monthly updates

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Please prepare a brief project update each month, in a format of your choice, to share progress and learnings with the community along the way. Submit the link below as you complete each update.

December 2016

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Project kick-off

  • Planning for project administration, staffing and scheduling
  • Mercy Procaccini joined the team as Project Coordinator

Wikipedian-in-Residence recruitment

Awareness campaign

  • Developed project communications plan
  • Wikipedia + Libraries project page went live on OCLC WebJunction.org site
  • Set up a distribution list for email updates about the project (115 subscribers)
  • Posted blog entry about #1Lib1Ref campaign with an invitation to learn more about the Wikipedia + Libraries project
  • Announced project in Crossroads, WebJunction’s newsletter
  • Promoted Wikipedia + Libraries via Twitter #OCLCwikilib and Facebook
  • Planned upcoming programs to build awareness of the project:
  • Instructional design staff began to identify existing resources and materials to incorporate into the training program

January 2017

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Wikipedian-in-Residence recruitment

  • Continued to promote the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for Wikipedian-in-Residence via the Wikipedia community and OCLC WebJunction contacts through the January 13 closing date
  • Received applications from eight highly qualified candidates, demonstrating a healthy level of interest and enthusiasm for the project
  • Began the process of reviewing the applications and scheduling candidate interviews
  • Met with the project advisors, who provided input about the strong applicant pool

Awareness campaign>

Evaluation planning

  • Project team held planning meetings to discuss the desired outcomes, training goals, and measures of success that will inform the evaluation plan
  • Began discussions with potential evaluation consultant about the evaluation plan

February 2017

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Wikipedian-in-Residence recruitment

  • Reviewed applications from a strong candidate pool
  • Conducted first-round interviews with four candidates via video chat
  • Held final, in-depth interviews with two candidates via video, with each candidate a providing a brief instructional session on a Wikipedia topic of their choice
  • Contacted references
  • Selected Monika Sengul-Jones (Shameran81) as the project’s Wikipedian-in-Residence
  • Began onboarding for Monika, with orientation about the WIR role, project goals and schedules

Curriculum development

  • Continued to identify and collect relevant materials and models for the training program
  • Refined training goals and outcomes in order to inform curriculum
  • Started to develop topics and learning objectives for training program, incorporating input from project advisors

Awareness campaign

  • Began planning for OCLC Member Relations presentations about Wikipedia + Libraries to state library associations and consortia around the country, starting in spring 2017 and ongoing


March 2017

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Curriculum development

  • Assess and organize internet tools and platforms to use in curriculum
  • Add more detail to curriculum development timeline
  • Gather materials (books, articles, tutorials, etc.) to use in curriculum
  • Identify and communicate with two possible course guest speakers

Awareness campaign

Building connections - Public libraries

  • WIR recruits six panelists to present on panel submissions for ALA and PLA
  • Panel submissions drafted for ALA and PLA
  • WIR begins direct outreach via chat, email, social media, and phone calls to public library staff who have already engaged in Wikipedia
  • WIR conducts three in-depth interviews with public library staff in the U.S. about their experiences using Wikipedia in their public libraries
  • WIR sets up three additional interviews for April with U.S. public library staff

Building connections - Wikipedia community

  • WIR chooses WIR-specific Wikipedia username Monikasj
  • Project team develops submissions for Wikimania in conjunction with advisory board members
  • WIR participates in WALRUS call
  • WIR contributes to USA report for the GLAM March newsletter
  • Ongoing social media and wiki contributions
  • Ongoing consultations with project advisers via phone, email, conference f2f meetings, and chat

Conference presentations

Evaluation

  • Engaged TrueBearing as evaluation consultant for the project
  • Worked with TrueBearing to develop an action map to guide project evaluation

April 2017

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Curriculum development

  • Set timeline for Wikipedia + Libraries webinar (introducing Wikipedia for libraries and the online training program), registration period and online training course
  • Confirm purpose, aims and flow of webinar
  • Identify and communicate with three additional course guest speakers
  • Begin development of a self-paced Wikipedia online training experience intended for public library staff

Awareness campaign

Building connections--Public libraries

  • Conduct six in-depth interviews with public library staff in the U.S. about their experiences using Wikipedia in their public libraries
  • Schedule two interviews for May with U.S. public library staff
  • Submit session proposals for ALA and PLA annual meetings
  • Two Wikipedia sessions accepted for ALA: "Leveraging Wikipedia for Libraries" conversation starter panel session and "Wikipedia for Libraries" at the LearnRT Training Showcase
  • Continue direct outreach via chat, email, social media, and phone calls to public library staff who have already engaged in Wikipedia

Building connections--Wikipedia community

  • Submit two Wikimania panel proposals
  • Host project adviser Phoebe Ayers at WebJunction for a day, discusses outreach, community norms and WikiData
  • Meet with Sage Ross of Wiki Education Foundation to discuss learning modulation and get insight on community agreed upon editing best practices
  • Participate in WALRUS call
  • Skill-share tutorial with experienced Wikipedia editor
  • Meet with Aaron Shaw on Wikipedia, gender and skills, attend Shaw's public presentation and introduce project during Q&A
  • Contribute to USA report for the GLAM April newsletter
  • Ongoing social media and wiki contributions
  • Ongoing conversations with Wikipedia community members via social media, phone, and email

Evaluation

  • Evaluation action map prepared and refined
  • Develop survey strategy and formats
  • Ongoing documentation of interviews with public library staff to provide qualitative information about public librarians' attitudes, perceptions and level of engagement with Wikipedia

May 2017

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Curriculum development

  • Planning is underway for the Wikipedia for Libraries: Preview the Possibilities, Discover the Opportunities webinar which will introduce Wikipedia engagement to a public library audience and preview the online training program; the webinar will be held on July 19 (registration opened in early June)
  • Invited and confirmed Tiffany Bailey from the Dallas Public Library as a guest speaker for the webinar; Bailey was featured in a Librarians Who Wikipedia article
  • Continued reviewing and adapting materials for online training program and self-paced learning activities
  • Continued to refine self-paced Wikipedia online training experience intended for public library staff

Awareness campaign

  • Librarians Who Wikipedia interview series continues with:
    • János McGhie, Saint Paul Public Library, who began editing Wikipedia when a patron questioned the purpose of libraries "when everything is online."McGhie—who goes by the username McGhiever—has made almost 22,000 edits and uploaded 1,300 photos to the Wikipedia Commons. "The mission of Wikipedia is the same as that of libraries: get information freely to people who need it. It behooves librarians to be a part of this project—and to help shape it."
    • Tiffany Bailey, of Dallas Public Library, who joined up with Consuelo Gutierrez of The Cedars Union, an incubator for the arts, and Kate Aoki of The Dallas Architecture Forum. Together they ran an all-day Art+Feminism event at the Dallas Public Library, with childcare. About 20 participants attended and five children. The organizers taught themselves to edit Wikipedia from the toolkit provided by Art+Feminism. They reported that no other Wikipedians attended. Their successes are a tribute to the usefulness and portability of the toolkit. Hat tip to the A+F team (tagging Failed Projects Sian Evans The Red Project) for the toolkit.
    • Andrea Davis and Christina Moretta, of the San Francisco Public Library. They organized Queerest Wikipedia Edit-a-thon in San Francisco in 2016. They reported "super users" joined the event and got library cards; Davis spoke highly of Dreamyshade's initiative and presentation. Afterwards, the librarians attended the Bay area WikiSalon to continue the conversation. (Re-purposing post from GLAM update).
  • Publicized how the inclusion of ISBNs in Wikipedia’s cite tool benefits libraries seeking to connect more people to their collections
  • Promoted opportunities to connect with the project at the ALA Annual meeting in Chicago
  • Analyzed readership data for April email blast; open rate is 50%!
  • Sent May email blast to 200 project subscribers
  • Updated website homepage content and created new page on the project history and timeline, publicizing key project dates: Wikipedia for Libraries preview webinar, registration period and online training program
  • Provided information about the project and AfroCrowd activities in support of OCLC Member Relations presentation at ACURIL (Association of Caribbean University, Research, and Institutional Libraries) meeting in Puerto Rico in early June
  • WIR Monika Sengul-Jones featured as Geekwire's Geek of the Week
  • WIR invited to write book chapter about Wikipedia and public libraries for ALA book Leveraging Wikipedia for Libraries to be published in 2017; project team member Merrilee Proffitt (senior program officer, OCLC Research) is editor

Building connections--Public libraries

  • Five more in-depth interviews with public library staff in the U.S. about their experiences using Wikipedia in their public libraries
  • Scheduled one interview for June with U.S. public library staff, more in the works
  • ALA session proposal accepted, travel plans secured, promotional materials designed and produced
  • Wikipedia + Libraries project activities confirmed for ALA:"Leveraging Wikipedia for Libraries" conversation starter panel session; LearnRT Training Showcase; OCLC Research Update (streaming on FB live), WIR invited to attend the Library Journal's Movers and Shakers event; project collateral (postcards and [citation needed] stickers) will be distributed
  • Continued direct outreach via chat, email, social media, and phone calls to public library staff who have already engaged in Wikipedia

Building connections--Wikipedia community

  • Contribute to USA report for the GLAM May newsletter
  • Ongoing social media and wiki contributions
  • Wikimania panel accepted
  • Ongoing conversations with Wikipedia community members via social media, phone, and email

Evaluation

  • Action map to guide project evaluation finalized
  • Outlined evaluation plan for the project: developed survey strategy, formats, and evaluation points
  • Prepared surveys for baseline of public library perceptions and engagement with Wikipedia and for pre- and post-webinar assessment
  • Ongoing documentation of interviews with public library staff to provide qualitative information about public librarians' attitudes, perceptions and level of engagement with Wikipedia.

June 2017

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Curriculum development

  • Finalized content and preparations for the Wikipedia for Libraries: Preview the Possibilities, Discover the Opportunities webinar which will introduce Wikipedia engagement to a public library audience and preview the online training program; the webinar will be held on July 19 (registration opened in early June)
    • The webinar will introduce Wikipedia engagement to a public library audience and preview the online training program
    • Tiffany Bailey from the Dallas Public Library is a guest presenter for the webinar; Bailey was featured in a Librarians Who Wikipedia article
    • It will be held on July 19, 3pm ET / 12pm PT
  • Continued developing materials and activities for online training program
  • Worked on building out the online community space for the training program participants
  • Developed procedures for training program registration, which opens July 19

Awareness campaign

  • Librarians Who Wikipedia interview series continues with:
    • Susan Barnum, El Paso Public Library, who taught herself to edit Wikipedia to improve the quality of information online; she incorporates editing into her librarianship and has created Wikipedia articles in response to patron queries.
  • Sent June update email (50% open rate, 233 subscribers) spotlighting public librarians at El Paso Public Library and San Francisco Public Library
  • Issued press release announcing the fall training program, preview webinar and project activities; ongoing social media activity regarding the project
  • Members of the project team attended the American Library Association annual conference this year in Chicago. Successes include (summary pulled from GLAM June newsletter):
    • Increased visibility of existing library involvement in Wikipedia--Monika Sengul-Jones presented at an ALA Conversation Starter, the OCLC Research Update, and a LearnRT for library staff trainers. The conversation starter "Leveraging Wikipedia for Libraries" was well attended. Speakers included Theresa Embrey (Chief Librarian at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library), Scott Walter (University Librarian at DePaul University) and Aaron Shaw (Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Northwestern University and a Faculty Associate of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, moderator and respondent). Panel emphasized that success with Wikipedia has special meaning for libraries: panelists successes included reaching new audiences for their collections, improving reliability on the internet (#1lib1ref was mentioned more than once), staff training, WIR positions and internships scaffold meaningful engagement, and libraries as institutions need strategies and staff buy-in in order to learn Wikipedia's organizational culture. Embrey highlighted ways the Pritzker uses page views driven by Wikipedia editing to measure outcomes and recently published an article about her successes. Walter described the variety of ways Wikipedia has been a part of the DePaul library community, including recent successes with the Wikipedian in Residence Cassandra DellaCorte. These presentations all made visible that libraries have been involved in Wikipedia for years, and modeled what other libraries can do.
    • "Yes,I <3 Wikipedia!" Librarians at ALA say they read--and <3--Wikipedia. In general, audience reception and informal conversations were positive. Most attendees the WIR spoke with (unscientific tally = 100+) were curious and enthusiastic about Wikipedia. Some were open that they had tried editing before, and were not successful. There were multiple requests for training and community-building specific to K-12 libraries and higher ed libraries. Questions included: What is GLAM? What is WikiED (does it have resources for university librarians or K-12 libraries). How does Wikipedia protect editors in cases of harassment? This interest suggests the time is right for more tailored training programs for all the different fields of librarianship.

Building connections--Public libraries

  • Continued in-depth interviews with public library staff in the U.S. about their experiences using Wikipedia in their public libraries
  • Made many connections with public library staff at the ALA annual conference in Chicago; see above for a summary of ALA activities
  • Continued direct outreach via chat, email, social media, and phone calls to public library staff who have already engaged in Wikipedia

Building connections--Wikipedia community

  • Contributed to USA report for the GLAM June newsletter
  • Ongoing social media and wiki contributions
  • Planning and preparations for panel at Wikimania; Monika Sengul-Jones and Merrilee Proffitt will be attending
  • Ongoing conversations with Wikipedia community members via social media, phone, and email
  • Outreach to recruit volunteers for WebJunction online training program—see announcement in GLAM June newsletter:

GLAMs, are you interested in collaborating and sharing what you've learned about Wikipedia with public library staff? The Wikipedia + Libraries project team is seeking volunteers to be on hand to field questions, shepherd small groups through electives/special topics in Wikipedia editing culture, and more. The course will run between Sept. 13 - Nov. 15. Email jonesm at oclc dot org for details.

Evaluation

  • Worked with evaluation consultant TrueBearing to develop a survey to capture the library community’s current perceptions of and engagement with Wikipedia in order to help guide the curriculum design.
    • 70 surveys were administered at the ALA annual conference! [Citation needed] stickers were given to respondents at ALA.
    • Survey disseminated through social media; open through the end of July.

July 2017

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Curriculum development

  • Continued to refine the training program curriculum: identifying the guest presenters, materials, and activities to best support each live session's content
  • Built out the online community space for the training program participants
  • Developed, tested, and finalized procedures for training program enrollment, which opened July 19:

Awareness campaign

  • Hosted Wikipedia for Libraries: Preview the Possibilities, Discover the Opportunities webinar on July 19:
    • the event introduced Wikipedia engagement to a public library audience and previewed the online training program
    • the chat channel was active, with many participants engaged in asking good questions, which were answered by fellow participants and WebJunction staff
    • over 700 registered for the webinar, with over 550 attending/viewing it (337 attended live + 226 viewings of the recording)
    • attendees of the live session came from 40 states + DC, and 9 countries
    • several individuals live tweeted throughout the webinar
  • Librarians Who Wikipedia interview series continues with:
    • Allison Frick of Glenside Free Library (PA), who uses Wikipedia as a tool to teach information literacy skills at her library
    • Paul Flagg of Tampa Hillsborough Public Library (FL), who began editing Wikipedia last year during his MLIS studies at the University of South Florida; Flagg edits articles on a range of topics and has organized Wikipedia events at his library system
  • Monika Sengul-Jones published "Wikipedia the WebJunction Way" in OCLC Next blog
  • Issued July update email (45% open rate, 272 subscribers) spotlighting public librarians who engage with Wikipedia; announcing enrollment for the training program and sharing the webinar recording link
  • Continued recruitment for training program and promotion of preview webinar with announcements and emails to public library, state library, small and rural library, and library trainer audiences

Building connections--Public libraries

  • Continued in-depth interviews with public library staff in the U.S. about their experiences using Wikipedia in their public libraries
  • Followed up on connections made with public library staff at the ALA annual conference in Chicago
  • Continued direct outreach via chat, email, social media, and phone calls to public library staff who have already engaged in Wikipedia

Building connections--Wikipedia community

Wikipedians - you are invited to be a guide to course participants! English-language Wikipedia editors are invited to participate in the Wikipedia + Libraries online training program as guides. You can participate in the full course, or for one of the modules. Wikipedians need not be affiliated with US public libraries to participate, the more the merrier! Help course participants learn about Wikipedia by sharing your experiences and answering questions during the forum discussions that take place between the live sessions. Click here to participate.

Evaluation

  • Compiled and summarized results from survey of US public library staff to capture current perceptions of and engagement with Wikipedia (363 respondents from survey questions disseminated at ALA annual conference in Chicago June 2017 and during Wikipedia for Libraries webinar registration June-July 2017). Some of the results include:
    • Among the US public library staff respondents:
      • 77% have never edited Wikipedia
      • 82% say Wikipedia is closer to accurate than inaccurate
      • 76% say Wikipedia is closer to neutral than biased
      • 60% say Wikipedia is closer to complete than incomplete
      • 95% say Wikipedia is relevant to their job
    • Results suggest a shift toward positive perceptions of Wikipedia and identify areas of opportunity for Wikipedia engagement among public library staff

August 2017

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Curriculum development

  • Finalized course syllabus; refining course content and activities for the beginning sessions (six live sessions in total) of the nine-week course; developed presentations and interactivity for live sessions
  • Developed schedule of guest presenters (library practitioners who already engage with Wikipedia) to help illuminate aspects of Wikipedia editing and engagement in ways relevant to public library staff work and experiences; guest presenters scheduled for September sessions:
    • Bob Kosovsky, New York Public Library
    • János McGhie, St. Paul Public Library
    • Susan Barnum, El Paso Public Library
  • Course page (community of practice) set up and ready as the space where participants go to for course information, announcements, assignments, and discussion forums where they will interact and learn from one another and the instructors.
  • Continued to manage the enrollment of participants; as of the end of August, 250 participants (majority are public library staff) were enrolled in the course and 14 Wikipedia guides recruited to help participants navigate Wikipedia (see more in the Building Connections—Wikipedia community, below

Awareness campaign

  • Continued to recruit participants for the course through posts to listservs, emails, and social media activity aimed at a variety of library staff audiences, including: public library staff, staff of small and rural libraries, state library contacts, library training contacts, OCLC libraries, and others
  • Rob Favini of OCLC Membership & Research presented a session featuring Wikipedia + Libraries at the Panhandle Library Access Network of the Florida Library Association mini-conference in August
  • Issued August Wikipedia project update (40% open rate, 268 subscribers)

Building connections--Wikipedia community

  • Monika Sengul-Jones and Merrilee Proffitt discussed the project at WikiConference North America and Wikimania in Montreal:
  • Ongoing social media and wiki contributions
  • Ongoing conversations with Wikipedia community members via social media, phone, and email
  • Recruited guides from the Wikipedia community (14 as of the end of August) to help guide program participants through learning about Wikipedia; the guide program will enable participants just learning how Wikipedia works and how to edit to do so in smaller groups (of about 30) with more attention and guidance from experienced Wikipedians; the small discussion groups aim to foster connections between course participants and Wikipedians and course participants with one another; as of the end of August, 14 individuals volunteered to give of their time to provide an encouraging guidance to participants new to the community; a number of guides were recruited at Wikimania and WikiConference

Evaluation

  • Developed and finalized pre-training survey to be administered to course participants; the survey seeks to establish a baseline of current Wikipedia engagement (use, contributions to, programming and other engagement with) to be compared with participants’ level of engagement following the course

September 2017

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Training program and curriculum development

  • The online training program kicked off on September 13 with its first live session.
  • The course enrolled 299 participants, representing 45 states plus District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, as well as 12 other countries. The majority of participants are public library staff; they represent a range of community types, from urban centers to small, rural communities, with varying service populations.
  • Three live sessions have occurred, here's what's been covered so far:
    • Wikipedia for you, your library, and your community
    • Evaluating Wikipedia with a critical eye
    • Contributing to Wikipedia
  • See the course syllabus here.
  • Each live session features a presentation by a library practitioner. To date, Bob Kosovsky (Kosboot), New York Public Library; János McGhie (McGhiever), Saint Paul Public Library; and Susan Barnum (Megalibrarygirl), El Paso Public Library have shared their Wikipedia experiences with course participants in guest presentations.
  • The content covered thus far has given participants a greater appreciation of Wikipedia as a resource and as a community. Helping library staff better understand Wikipedia, and, in turn, helps them as they assist their colleagues and patrons with understanding and using Wikipedia. Here are a few comments from participants:
    • “It's eye-opening, exciting and fascinating. I have been using Wikipedia as a quick research reference. I never imagined that how many people, how much time, [and] hard work it takes to prepare an article.”
    • “I am finding it interesting to look into the Talk section and also looking into the editing and comments of the articles. It shows that Wikipedia is a vibrant community, something I wasn't that aware of before this course and something that I am very grateful to find out about.”
    • “It's been really helpful to learn about Wikipedia's pillars--it's enlightened my perception of Wikipedia, and I've already begun to share that awareness with other users.”
  • Between the live sessions, participants do readings and assignments, and engage in online discussion forums. Experienced Wikipedians serve as guides to help ease participants’ entry into Wikipedia engagement.
  • Upcoming speakers include Jacinta Sutton (JacintaJS), State Library of Queensland; Kerry Raymond (Kerry Raymond), Wikimedia Australia; Rajene Hardeman (Vizzylane) and Sherry Antoine, both of AfroCROWD
  • The remaining six weeks of the training program will include three more live sessions and participants will develop plans for implementing Wikipedia engagement that will benefit their communities.
  • By the project's conclusion in the spring of 2018, curriculum and training materials generated will be consolidated, curated and hosted on WebJunction for open access and at no cost to users under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 license.

Awareness campaign

Building connections--Wikipedia community

  • In addition to Wikipedians who are library practitioners as guest presenters; experienced Wikipedians have volunteered as guides to course participants.
  • Fifteen Wikipedians, many of whom are library staff or work with cultural institutions, are serving as guides to encourage training program participants as they begin to explore Wikipedia.
  • Course successes so far have been possible thanks to the efforts of these Wikipedia guides. They give a human face to Wikipedia and to answer questions and cheer on participants as they begin to explore Wikipedia in the course
  • Wikipedia + Libraries guides: (in alphabetical order) Alexandre Hocquet, Avery Jensen, Gamaliel, JacintaJS, Jackie Koerner, Kerry Raymond, Librarygurl, Megalibrarygirl, Megs, Merrilee, PersnicketyPaul, Rachelwex, slowking4, Sodapopinski7, Vizzylane
  • The guides provide much needed support and encouragement to participants; they are an essential part of the training experience and the Wikipedia + Libraries team is appreciative and grateful for their many contributions

Evaluation

  • A pre-training survey was disseminated to all who enrolled in training program, to establish a baseline for participants’ knowledge of Wikipedia and their level of engagement.
  • The data indicate that 74% of participants look up or read information in Wikipedia at least weekly but 70% have never made an edit to Wikipedia.

October 2017

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Training program and curriculum development

  • Course participants from libraries across the US (and beyond) continued their journey through the inner-workings of Wikipedia.
  • Two live sessions occurred in October: Wikipedia empowers community and Wikipedia + Programming; these two sessions continued to help participants gain confidence with editing and covered how they might apply Wikipedia toward community outreach efforts and programming.:
  • See the course syllabus here.
  • Participants began to edit Wikipedia articles, with impressive results. Between the live sessions, participants have added links, verified claims with citations from reliable sources, and written or copy-edited text on more than 320 Wikipedia articles—a total of more than 3,000 edits! (as of October 25, 2017)
  • Each live session features a presentation by a library practitioner. In the October 11 session, State Library of Queensland, Australia, staff member Jacinta Sutton and Wikimedia Australia volunteer and course guide Kerry Raymond joined our live session (at 2:30 a.m. Queensland time!) to share their successes with Wikipedia for staff enrichment.
  • In the October 25 session, course guide, Howland Public Library trustee and AfroCROWDer Rajene Hardeman was joined by AfroCROWD program and outreach coordinator Sherry Antoine to present about AfroCROWD's model of community outreach with Wikipedia.
  • During the final three weeks of the course, participants will create a Wikipedia engagement plan for their library and communities.
  • Course content has continued to provide participants with an appreciation of Wikipedia as a resource and as a community. Here are a few of this month's comments from participants:
    • "It excites me to be a part of the Wikipedia community and to say that I am trying to make things better by contributing. [Instead of] complaining that Wikipedia isn't a reputable source …I can say that I’m part of the solution."
    • "I shared out what we're learning in the courseat our staff meeting last week; everyone learned something new!"
    • "Due to taking this course, I'm changing the way we deliver information literacy training ... thanks for being the catalyst to change!"
  • Between the live sessions, participants do readings and assignments, and engage in online discussion forums. Experienced Wikipedians serve as guides to help ease participants’ entry into Wikipedia engagement
  • By the project's conclusion in the spring of 2018, curriculum and training materials generated will be consolidated, curated and hosted on WebJunction for open access and at no cost to users under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 license.

Awareness campaign

Project team members Merrilee Proffitt and Monika Sengul-Jones participated in the [ https://www.oclc.org/en/events/councils/2017-18/americas-regional-council-meetings-home/agenda.html OCLC Americas Regional Council meeting in Baltimore, MD]

Building connections--Wikipedia community

Evaluation

  • An informal midpoint survey was disseminated. Among the feedback gathered: respondents indicated the value of learning about how Wikipedia works and how to evaluate it as key learnings that they hoped to share with colleagues and community members.
  • The project team, working with evaluation consultant TrueBearing, developed a post-training survey that will be administered following the final live session of the course.

November 2017

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Training program

  •  The Wikipedia + Libraries: Better Together online training program concluded in November!
  • Four library staff from three libraries gave guest presentations in the final live online session on Nov. 15
  • Course participants had until Nov. 30 to complete all required coursework, including regular discussion board posts, assignments, tutorials, editing and observations; the final assignment was writing up a plan of action for their future engagement plan with Wikipedia for their libraries
  • By the end of the course, participants had made more than 5,000 edits to 600 articles; participation and metrics were tracked using Outreach Dashboard (and the numbers continue to go up)
  • By the project's conclusion in the spring of 2018, curriculum and training materials generated will be consolidated, curated and hosted on WebJunction for open access and at no cost to users under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 license.

Curriculum development

  • Wikipedia + Libraries webinar announced - WebJunction will host Citations Needed on January 10, 2018 designed to build on the momentum and support the community that began to forum with the online training program, featuring the #1lib1ref campaign and featuring the OCLC WiR and Emily Jack as facilitators and guest presenters

Awareness campaign

Building connections--Wikipedia community

Evaluation

  • Participants were issued a post-course survey, which is the second of three surveys that will be issued through our work with evaluation consultant TrueBearing
  • Evaluation of the strengthening of ties between libraries and Wikipedia is, in part, being evaluated with a post-course survey with the Wikipedia guides about their participation
  • Project WiR is closely reviewing all Plans of Action submitted for analysis, support and case study selections


Is your final report due but you need more time?



Extension request

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New end date

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OCLC’s Wikipedia + Libraries project team requests a two-month extension of the original grant term. OCLC’s Wikipedian-in-Residence (WIR) will complete the WMF-supported portion (12 months) of her 16-month appointment in January 2018. The final report would be submitted by January 31, 2018.

Rationale

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The grant supports 12 months of the WIR’s 16-month appointment. OCLC’s WIR started in February 2017, following a period of two months for the recruitment and selection process. This extension would allow for the end of the grant term to align with the end of the WIR’s first 12 months.

Extension approved

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I am approving a new project end date of January 31, 2018. --Marti (WMF) (talk) 18:25, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

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