Grants:Project/OCLC/Action Plan for Wikipedia + Libraries Training in Mexico/Timeline

This project is funded by a Project Grant

Timeline for OCLC

Timeline	Date
Start Project	10 June 2019
Contract with Regional Outreach Consultant	30 June 2019
Complete research and outreach activities	10 October 2019
Complete action plan report	10 November 2019

Monthly updates

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.

June 2019

Contracted COP | Digital Information Solutions S.A. de C.V., ("COP") to serve as regional outreach consultants. Nicholas Cop is a former employee of OCLC who founded the Latin American and Caribbean division. His partner José Antonio Yáñez is a professional academic librarian.
Cop and Yáñez attended the AMBAC conference in Mexico City, June 18-21, 2019. This is the Mexican Library Association’s annual conference and brings together approximately 350 librarians from around the country. The two had exploratory conversations with attendees about perceptions of Wikipedia, training needs, etc. They also outlined a plan to meet with leaders at libraries, the Ministry of Culture, and more.
The project was mentioned during the OCLC Research Update presentation during the American Library Association Annual Conference.

July 2019

Our regional outreach consultant had several meetings in Mexico:
- Established excellent communication with the current and immediate past-president of Wikipedia Mexico, to form basis for good collaboration with the chapter for the training initiative.
- Met with the senior and special advisor to the State Public Library of Jalisco in Guadalajara, Mexico, who was very favorable to the initiative. At the moment, there is no director of the State Public Library. A new one will be appointed by November. The State Library is part of the Universidad de Guadalajara library network of 15 disciplinary libraries, and three other public libraries: Iberoamericana, Autlán, and Ciudad Guzmán. All of these libraries are potential candidates to participate in the initiative, and have good training infrastructure and presence in the state of Jalisco.
- Met with the director of the Public Library Network (DGB) of Mexico, who was very favorable to the initiative. The Network is composed of 7,450 libraries throughout the country. The DGB has an existing de-centralized training program and trainers who train the librarians in the network. The training is done through the State Central Libraries, which are responsible for the public libraries in the municipalities in their respective states. The DGB and its State Central Libraries are potential candidates to participate in the initiative.
In process of scheduling meeting with ENBA (National Library and Archives School), which issues bachelor degrees in library and information science.
- Planning to attend the ENBA annual conference in August, Its theme this year is "Information skills in the digital age”, which is a possible platform for disseminating Wikipedia and the participation of public libraries.
Work is ongoing on the Mexico library environmental report.

August 2019

Met a second time with Marx Arriaga, director of the DGB (Public Library Network) at his request. He informed us that he received interest in the Wikipedia + Mexico Libraries initiative from three state central libraries: Querétaro, Tabasco and Durango. He is continuing to discuss the initiative with other state central libraries and will let us know their reactions. We gave Marx a printed copy of the US Wikipedia+Libraries training materials and curriculum so that he could have a better understanding of the materials and of what might be involved in adapting the materials to the Mexican environment. We agreed that we could participate soon as observers in one of the DGB courses under the DGB’s training program to learn how their courses are delivered.
Scheduled a meeting with the Director General of the National Library School for early September, and with the Director of the senior high school library system of ENP (Escuela National Preparatoria) of UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México). The ENP is the oldest and one of the largest, if not the largest, senior high school library systems in Mexico.
Continued work on the library environmental scan, mainly on getting solid statistics we can reference on library activities and library school graduation rates.
August is slow due to vacations and travel to the IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations) Annual Conference in Greece.

September 2019

Had the following meetings in Mexico:

The library system director of the EPN (the UNAM senior high school system). There are nine schools and libraries in the system, with a total student population of 110,000. This high school system, as well as others similar to it in Mexico, are a potential audience for Wikipedia training in general so that teachers and students make good use of the online encyclopedia.
The Director of ENBA, the National School of Library and Archival Sciences. ENBA is an important library school, and one of nine different programs in the country. Had discussion around how Wikipedia could play a role in ENBA's library programs.
The Director of the El Colegio de México (COLMEX) Library and their Wikipedian librarian, to learn more about the training materials, Youtube videos, editathons, and Wikipedia training sessions to its librarians and staff, as well as to those outside of the El Colegio de México, developed as part of their WMF-funded project.
The Director of the library at the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional (UPN), which produces pedagogues and researchers who provide professional training to the country’s elementary and high school teachers. There are 70 campuses in the country which produce about 900 graduates a year. The EPN has online courses and a Laboratory for Educational Technology, which makes it an interesting consideration for producing and adapting training materials.

Also made a few site visits to public libraries in Mexico City, and were very pleased with the reference services the librarians offered to patrons.

Submitted midpoint report.

October 2019

Drafted a Mexican Library Landscape Report that summarizes the different library systems, networks, and library schools in Mexico; the continuing education available to librarians, librarians, and library services;and public perception of the services in the main public library of Mexico City. Information from this report will be included in the action plan.

Met with the director of the University of Guadalajara (UdG) Library network, as follow-up to the July meeting with the senior advisor to the library and University Cultural Center. The UdG network incorporates the university’s academic, public, and high school libraries. There are a total of 300,000 students enrolled and some 200 libraries with 700 staff. The director confirmed his strong interest in a Wikipedia training initiative.

A final follow-up meeting with the director of the DGB Public Library Network has been scheduled for November 5, to review any final issues the DGB might have regarding potential participation in a Wikipedia training initiative, to define what resources might be required to undertake Wikipedia training, and to see if a visit to a live DGB training session can be made.

November 2019

Discussed the potential scenarios for the action plan
Requested some follow-up details from the organizations that are under discussion.
Drafted action plan (in progress as of end of month)
Project team discussed the learning pattern emerging from the project, in preparation for final grant report
Regional outreach consultant completed their contract
Requested extension until December 20.

December 2019

Completed Action Plan for Wikipedia+Libraries Training in Mexico

Is your final report due but you need more time?

Extension request

New end date

December 20, 2019

Rationale

We are in the final steps of the project. However, our regional consultants are still gathering some final information for the action plan. Gathering these details have required scheduling in-person meetings with library directors and other organizational stakeholders; this has required some flexibility in our project schedule (we're also making up for the slow month of August, where library stakeholders and staff were largely unavailable). Also, Dale and Sharon, who are documenting the final action plan based on the material gathered over the course of the project, have other work and life commitments that must take priority for a few weeks. We are confident that we can wrap up the project deliverables by December 20, 2019.--Thinktower (talk) 16:51, 4 November 2019 (UTC)