Wikimedia and Libraries User Group/Meeting minutes/2018/April/9

April 9-10, 2018

1. The committee voted in favour of using the existing librarieslists.wikimedia.org mailing list for open communication

2. Following the first meeting of the new steering committee on March 12-13, 22 ideas were expressed regarding the results we wanted to achieve as a User Group. Later on, discussion among the steering committee surfaced the need to break down these ideas into means and ends while limiting it to 5 most relevant ones. The result of the poll conducted to determine the most relevant ones are given below:

What should be our 5 primaries? (Means)

1. Present at library conference and events (4)
2. Make use of social media channels to help each other out during edit-a-thons, to exchange expertise and resources (4)
   • Where are the events? Can we use the user group landing page as a place to direct people to people or events that would be helpful?
3. Showing library institutions how to build Wikipedia into their workflows and even their marketing (reference desk, skills & promotions, programming) (4)
4. Roll out the Wikipedia + Libraries OCLC-style course on a global scale, not necessarily as one big event, but as multiple events in different regions/timezones (in 3 modules: reading and usage, editing, programming) (4)
5. Expand campaigns like 1Lib1Ref and get librarians more involved in other campaigns (4)

What should be our 5 primary goals? (Ends)

1. Changing perception of Wikipedia as an enemy or a competitor, but rather as a collaborator (4)
   • Means:
     • present at library conferences and events
       • Needs money unless funded by employer
     • Twitter possibly may be “super communicators”
       • Backchannel during the conference on hashtags
       • New graduate librarians, identify librarian chat sessions (eg. @ALIANewGrads
       • IFLA groups (eg @IflaPls  ; @IFLA_FAIFE ; @IflaAsiaOceania ; @wil_ifla ; …) other professional groups (eg @LIBEReurope ; @lianzaoffice ; @ALIANational ; @ALALibrary ; @NMLib_Assn; @LIASANews ; @AfLIACon …. )
     • Email (the mailing list discussed above)
     • Facebook
     • Can see engagement from #1lib1ref in Africa. Pointing to blog posts on the website. Sharing posters and flyers.
     • Library journals (eg Journal of New Librarianship; Evidence Based Library and Information Practice journal ;
     • International Community of Wikipedian Librarians
     • Important that the message is coming from other librarians rather than Wikipedians
     • Some kind of promotional campaign to get people onto our mailing list or Facebook or Twitter etc, which probably means using existing non-Wikipedia related channels to reach librarians
     • Build up a library of resources to re-use (re-use existing GLAM case study materials?) Create a new portal into it from our website, etc, selecting only those which are directly relevant
     • Librarians who Wikipedia material, first-person “I’m Wendy. I’m a librarian and I’m a Wikipedian”, could be text/podcast/video
     • Try to title them to draw the attention of particular groups: university librarians, programs for middle school etc
2. Build the international community of Wikipedian librarians as a social professional and activist network, not just a reference resource (4)
   • Draws on some of the above
3. Educate librarians about how Wikipedia fits in with their profession, tenure and promotion requirements, open access movement, codes of ethics, etc. (4)
   • Need to target library bosses and library educators
4. Make the user group a centre of professional engagement, proactively coordinating outreach to library professionals and attendance at events (3)
   • Draws on some of the above
5. Move towards Wikipedia work being Business As Usual in libraries (3)
   • Need to target library bosses and library educators
6. Deepen understanding of how to engage with libraries and librarians from under-represented regions (3)
   • We need a full discussion here
7. Educate librarians that Wikipedia is a community first, a research resource second(3)
   • Draws on some of the above

3. Consideration overall for communications: thinking about messaging: what is the message and what is the call to action? How can they find out more? Need a communications plan:

• Who do we want to communicate with?
• What channels should we use to talk to them?
• What messages do we want to give them?
• What call to action do we want them to do?
• Some messaging is aimed at practitioners, some at leaders and library educators?

4. Timing of #1lib1ref

• One time of year where there are excitement and momentum, but also an event that could happen at any time.
• In June, will be a discussion about when #1lib1ref will land if it will continue to be in January or be repositioned in May or some other time of year.
• Need a discussion about how to improve #1lib1ref -- going beyond CitationHunt, build competitive spirit.
• [Incomplete]

5. Strategic plan - [yet to be devised]