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Collecting information about Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums around the world and their collections on Wikipedia, available free, for everyone, to use and improve

We bring together data on cultural institutions on Wikidata, providing a free to use worldwide database of cultural heritage institutions and their collections which can be used in education, the digitization of cultural heritage, crisis situations, tourism and more. We will bring together existing datasets and work with partners to survey cultural organisations and other knowledge holders to fill gaps. This resource will increase availability of information and awareness of GLAM institutions globally.

This page records datasets, lists and other information available for Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums around the world. It provides a central place to organise their import into Wikidata. There are already 50,000+ GLAMs recorded in Wikidata but this is a small proportion of the Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums globally..

Help find datasets

You can help research which datasets are available. Even if you cannot directly access the dataset, knowing it exists will be very helpful to the project. Once you find a dataset please add it to the table below. You can find datasets by looking at external websites using one of the following tools or by researching on a regional or national level.

Add to our list of databases

By adding it to our table, you will bring it to the attention of other volunteers and project organisers who can then work towards uploading it to Wikidata. Here are some tips.

Essential information

The most important information to provide about the datasets you find is:

Name: The name of the dataset or list
URL: where the dataset is located (if it is not online please explain how to access it
Type: what type of institution it is (a public library, a museum...)
Country: If the dataset is limited to a particular country, you can put it in an appropriate continent subpage.
Topic: what sort of institutions it covers, to the table.
Source: who provided the data or published the website?

Nice to have information

If you know how please create a Wikidata item for the dataset. See Public Libraries Survey 2016: Main Libraries, Branches, and Bookmobiles (Outlets) (Q60644054) or Directorio de Museos y Colecciones de España (Q56246649) for examples.
Is there a Wikidata property associated with the dataset? If one exists, add it to the table. If it doesn't, examine the dataset to see whether it would be possible to create one. Obviously it's not always possible.
Is there a Mix 'n' Match catalog associated with this dataset? Add it to the table.
What Type of data is this? A downloadable dataset or an online register/catalog? This affects how easy the data will be to process. A downloadable dataset (e.g. in csv or json format) is preferable. Having to web scrape will be less convenient, and PDF files are even less accessible. But any type of publication is great as a starting point – we can discuss with the data provider whether the data can be delivered in a more accessible format.
If you can find any License information, add it as well. CC0 is the preferable license for importing data to Wikidata, but we would like to work with the data providers to clarify unclear licenses and make more data available.
Add any other relevant information to the Notes field. E.g. the size of the dataset, or any issues you can notice.

Help import the data

Matching the data

Once datasets have been identified they need to be compared to the data which is already in Wikidata. To help with this please click on any of the links in the Mix n' Match column, please read these matching tips before beginning. Your help is especially appreciated if you are knowledgeable about the subject area or are a fluent speaker of the language the database is available in. Note: when a Mix n' Match catalogue is complete please add (Complete) after the link in the table.

How to model GLAM institutions on Wikidata?

You can read a short introduction to modelling GLAM institutions on Wikidata.

Datasets

See separate tables for:

Status	Country	Name of dataset	Link to dataset's website	Wikidata item	Wikidata property	Mix'n'match catalog	Topic (e.g Galleries, Libraries, Archives or Museums)	Source (e.g government department)	Link to data import record (Wikidata:Dataset Imports)	Type of information (Datasets, Map data etc)	License of data	Notes
	Worldwide	Worldwide Database of University Museums and Collections	here	Worldwide Database of University Museums and Collections (Q60661836)	UMAC ID (P5050)	1171	University museums and collections	International Council of Museums (ICOM) Committee for University Museums and Collections		Directory	??	Not downloadable; no license information
	Worldwide	World Heritage sites (includes many cultural institutions	here								??	Navino Evans has done work on importing this data, need to check if it is up to date
	Worldwide	Memory of the World Register	here								??	Navino Evans has done work on importing this data, need to check if it is up to date
	Worldwide	Libraries.org, a directory of libraries throughout the world	here		P4848		Libraries				??
	Worldwide	Academic Ranking of World Universities	here		P5242		Universities (which will most probably include at least libraries and possibly museums)
	Worldwide	Directory of Open Access Journals	here		P5115		Universities (which will most probably include at least libraries and possibly museums)					Navino Evans has already done a lot of work importing data from DOAJ, check with Nav for more information on what has been imported
	Worldwide	World Digital Library	here									Its a dataset of objects, many of which will be in the public domain, also includes identifiers for many institutions. Is coorganised by UNESCO.
	Worldwide	Directory of Open Access Repositories	here									Will include a very large number of universities which will very often have libraries)
	Worldwide	World Higher Education Database	here									A worldwide register of universities, run in collaboration with UNESCO. Assuming most universities have libraries this could be a really useful database.
	Worldwide	International Standard Identifier for Libraries and Related Organizations (ISO 15511)	here
	Worldwide	Survey of GLAM open access policy and practice	here context
	Worldwide	WorldCat Registry	here		WorldCat Registry ID (P5505)		Libraries
	Worldwide	IFLA database					Libraries					Unclear if IFLA have a full list of libraries behind their Map of the World
	Worldwide	International Standard Identifier for Libraries and Related Organizations	here		ISIL (P791)		Libraries		ISIL

Useful links

Wikidata property for authority control for museums (Q56245078)