The Wikipedia Library/Newsletter/July-August 2020

The Wikipedia Library
Books & Bytes
Issue 40, July–August 2020

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In this issue we highlight exciting new partnerships on the Library Card platform, and, as always, a roundup of news and community items related to libraries and digital knowledge.

New partnerships

The Wikipedia Library is announcing signups today for free, full-access, accounts for several exciting new partners:

Other partnerships with accounts available are listed on our partners page.

Global Outreach

#1Lib1Ref May and Next Steps

The 1Lib1Ref campaign is an annual campaign that runs twice each year, in January and May. The iteration which ran from 15 May to 5 June 2020 heightened opportunities and potential for content campaigns on Wikimedia projects. The campaign, which encourages small contributions through a simple ask of adding citations to Wikipedia articles, has seen contributions from librarians and well-wishers across the web. Over the past two years we have been experimenting and deploying new strategies to push the boundaries of the campaign. Some of our strategies have yielded some great outcomes that we would like to share with you all.

We invite you to read the May 2020 report and to learn more about our work and plans for the future. Below is a snapshot of the key statistics from the campaign.

Key stats:

  • There were over 32,890 total edits made across 24 projects in the campaign, a 394% increase compared to last year
  • 27,800 edits (84.52% of global total) were from our partners (AfLIA) through the African Libraries Week (#AFLibWk) competition
  • 1.47 million words were added as recorded on the dashboard
  • 550 editors participated, a 6% increase from the previous year
  • 310 articles were created and 5,610 were edited by editors tracked in the Programs and Events Dashboard

Thank you to everyone who helped make #1Lib1Ref 2020 a success. We look forward to collaborating with you next year for the campaign during Wikipedia's 20th Birthday celebration!

AfLIA hires a Wikipedian-in-Residence

Early this year the Wikipedia Library signed a partnership with AfLIA to scale the #1Lib1Ref campaign within the Librarian professional network in Africa. As part of the partnership AfLIA is to run an online course to ensure continuous engagement of the librarians that participated in the 1Lib1Ref campaign and to train more librarians across the continent to appreciate and learn about the opportunities that exist around Wikipedia.

A few days ago AfLIA announced their hiring of a Wikipedian in Residence to lead the creation and adaptation of the course curriculum. Join us to congratulate Alice Kibombo on her new role! Read more about her via the official announcement.

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