The Wikipedia Library/Processes/Signup Setup

Signup Setup Guide

How do you create a page to coordinate a new partnership? What about issuing accounts?

This page is for volunteer coordinators with The Wikipedia Library (TWL) who are helping coordinate individual partner donation pages and distribution of accounts to Wikipedia users. If you are interested in helping coordinate a new partnership, please sign up.

Step One: Set up the Wikipedia page

Although signups are conducted on the Library Card platform, it's still useful to have a Wikipedia page containing information about the partnership. Wikipedians are still accustomed to finding partners here, there is added convenience to linking to on-wiki pages.

Finding a name Before creating a new partner's page, it is important to come up with a name that will make sense and be easy to recognize. Make sure to choose a name in the "Wikipedia:" namespace that is meaningfully representative of the publisher, such as Adam Matthew, or the service to which applicants will be receiving access, such as Past Masters. Abbreviations, such as OUP, may be used if the name is very long. Sometimes the abbreviations are not available; try not to replace other pages or redirects, especially if they are highly used, but add a hatnote if appropriate (e.g. on WP:RSC for WP:RSC Gold).

Refining the content Start the new partner's page using the typical methods for creating new pages. Below are the sections that are absolutely essential to include on each partner's page; make sure to revise them to meet the requirements of the current partnership. On the English Wikipedia you can use the TWL Header template to automatically format the page.

Note: The instinct of some of the partners may be to use marketing or other promotional language to discuss their product on the partner pages. Don't feel pressured: Remember, we are not a commercial service and we aren't promoting or advertising for our partner. We are trying to create as much transparency for our users as possible, and the same community impulse to create policies like WP:Peacock would raise concerns among community members about TWL's use of promotional language. With that said, it's often helpful to express enthusiasm and excitement about the partnership in an objective manner, and to discuss why and how the materials for the partnership should be compelling for the community.

• A Lead or Introduction describing the "What" of the partnership. This could include several parts:
  1. An introduction to the partner: What do they offer? Who are they affiliated with?
  2. A discussion of what is available through the partner: What does the database/resource offer for users? Are the sources especially useful in a particular way?
  3. A discussion of how Wikipedia users will likely use the resource: What types of Wikipedia articles would best use that database as a source? What limits might the source's collection have?
  4. What type of accounts are we offering? Are they a full year? Limited number of articles?
  5. How many accounts are we offering?
  6. Are there any use considerations that might keep users from signing up? For instance, Past Masters requires users to keep a cookie on their browser, which might be a turn-off for some Wikipedia editors.

• Requirements section: This section includes any restrictions placed on who can have access to the material. Normally these include the following requirements:
  1. You have your preferences enabled to receive email messages on English Wikipedia (see Special:Preferences)
  2. You have an account that is a minimum of 6 months old
  3. You have a minimum of 500 edits to the encyclopedia
  4. You are active in content generation, research, and/or verification work
• Expectations: This section enumerates the expectations to be formalized in the agreement (MoU) between partner-donor and applicant-recipient. The standard MoU includes the following restrictions:
  • Approved editors may
    • Search, view, retrieve, and display portions of restricted content
    • Electronically save portions of restricted content
    • Print out single copies of portions of restricted content
    • Comply with any terms and conditions which appear on the particular pages of the [PARTNER] website they are accessing
  • Approved editors will not
    • Share their account logins or passwords with others
    • Mass scrape or mass download [PARTNER] content
    • Systematically make printed or electronic copies of multiple extracts of restricted content available for any purpose
    • Datamine metadata without permission, in order, for instance, to use metadata for auto-created stub articles
• Standard Disclaimer: The page should include our standard disclaimer about Private and confidential information explaining how the information will be collected and used by The Wikipedia Library:

  You will need to have a confirmed email address to participate. You understand and agree that your name and email address may be shared with representatives of the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikipedia Library, and [PARTNER]. Although representatives of The Wikipedia Library may be volunteers (not employees or contractors of the Wikimedia Foundation or [PARTNER]), they have signed confidentiality agreements with the Wikimedia Foundation concerning the handling of personal information for the Wikipedia Library.

• Citation: This section requires a bit more customization than the rest of the page. The goal with this section is to provide both a) guidelines for citing resources from the partner and b) a citation template that helps make citations to the partner more consistent, so that end users (Wikipedia readers and researchers) can more easily recognize the status of the source. Here is what is important:
  • Must include lines: Make sure that at a minimum you include the following language:
    • Editors should always provide original citation information, in addition to linking a SOURCE article
    • Editors should not use bare links to non-free SOURCE pages in citations
    • An example citation using a citation template, both bracketed in nowiki and displayed as a reader interacts with it.
  • More flexible concerns: These elements require a judgement call based on the partnership's requirements and source materials:
    • Which citation template do you choose to display? For most of our partnerships, the best citation templates are going to be the most frequently used: start-cite web-end, start-cite journal-end, start-cite book-end or start-cite newspaper-end.
    • What types of access options will readers of Wikipedia have? How do we represent these options in the citations?
      • Typically, our partners have materials that will be paywalled, so make sure to include instructions on how to use the "|subscription = yes" parameter or start-subscription needed-end template. Elsevier (a TWL partner) has noted that many readers might have access to its database via local public or educational library subscriptions, and that some journal materials become "open access" over a period of time. They suggested the inclusion of indicators within the citation of possible accessibility. This can be accomplished by use of the start-Subscription or libraries-end template.
      • Citations should use the |via= parameter, to credit the partner that hosts the content. For example, if HighBeam hosts an article published in The Washington Post, editors can use "|via= HighBeam |subscription= yes |work= The Washington Post" to give appropriate attribution to both entities.
      • Sometimes partners will provide more open options for some of their sources that allow us to create open access opportunities for our readers. Make sure to include a recommendation for use of the start-Open access-end template and to include a description of the mechanism for creating that opportunity to editors. For example, see Wikipedia:Newspapers.com#Citation and Open Access.
      • Are there any reasons that editors should be wary of using the database for sourcing? Could some of the material create a violation of WP:BLPPRIVACY? Are the sources mostly primary sources, so policies like WP:OR and WP:Primary apply? For an example of such a discussion, see WP:FindMyPast.
• An Application Section: This section is pretty simple; users just need to be provided with enough information to provide applications with sufficient consistency that screening them becomes easier. Recent partnerships have successfully used the following introduction to the applications:
  • Add yourself at the bottom of the list with a line starting with #{{user8|USERNAME}} followed by an explanation of why you believe the access would be beneficial to you. It is a good idea to include in your application text: your depth of experience with Wikipedia and other WM projects, your editing areas benefited by access to SOURCE, and examples of your history of content creation or verification work.
    • Note that start-user8-end is very useful for processing the applications: it directly links to edit counts and Wikipedia email for users.
  • If the partner you are adding will have signups conducted on the Library Card platform, this section is unnecessary.
• Other sections?
  • Sometimes the partner's donation will have additional considerations that should be covered for the benefit of editors and readers. In such cases it is helpful to add more information, as we did for BNA's blogging opportunities or Newspaper.com's clippings function.

Step Two: Set up the Wikipedia Library card page

We would like to encourage all future signups to be conducted on our centralised Library Card platform. It is translatable, meaning editors from all supported Wikipedia languages can get access to resources, and will support authentication-based access.

• Partners need a two-part description.
  • One or two sentences describing the organisation/publisher. This is just a general overview, e.g. "Annual Reviews is a publisher of review articles in the sciences and social sciences. Its articles cover major topics in each subject area every few years, with other special topics appearing occasionally", including a link to their homepage.
  • A description of the content that Wikipedians can get access to. This should include a link to any relevant collections. e.g. "Taylor & Francis is offering access to three subject collections on their digital platform at Taylor & Francis Online: the Arts & Humanities collection, the Biological, Earth, Environmental & Food Sciences collection, and the Strategic, Defence & Security Studies collection."
• If the partner has specific collections to be applied to, we also need a one sentence description of each, with a link.
• Contact Sam to get the partner(s) added to the platform.

Step Three: The Extra Goodies

Beyond the main sign-up page, it is also helpful to develop several pieces of infrastructure and media to make the page more accessible, aesthetic and useful for the end user. Here are the parts to include:

• Nav Menu – a sidebar to help users navigate between subpages. Examples include WP:BNA/Nav or WP:Keesings/Nav. These examples can be used as models for the creation of Nav Menus for new partner pages, but make sure to replace all instances of the previous partnership's name (including those in the titles of the subpages) with the name of the new partner. You do not need to create all of the subpages.
• Userbox – a notice that account recipients can place on their user pages to advertise the fact that they have access to a partner's database. It is not required that account recipients add a userbox, but recipients are encouraged to assist other editors in accomplishing editorial tasks such as verification of claims sourced to material from the partner's database. Userbox examples include WP:BNA/Userbox or WP:Keesings/Userbox. If using these examples as models, make sure to update all of the partnership-specific text and customize the userbox color to match the color of the partner's logo. One of the easiest ways to identify the shade of color a partner uses is to create a screenshot of the partner's page, paste the screenshot in MS Paint or another image software program, and use the color sampler tool (e.g. the eyedropper in MS Paint) to determine what colors are used by the partner. If sampling the colors of a partner's logo in MS Paint or other software, you may obtain RGB color values instead of hexadecimal values (used by Wikipidia's userbox template). RGB numbers can be converted into hex at http://www.javascripter.net/faq/rgbtohex.htm
• An Image – a graphic representation of the partner. For most pages on TWL, we try to include an image at the top right to make the page feel more aesthetically pleasing. Images are generally drawn from Wikimedia Commons and are relevant to the partner's collection.
• Categories – navigational pages used to organize all of the TWL subpages related to the partner. The two categories required for all partners are "Category:Wikipedia SOURCE access" which will include the sign-up page and all of its subpages, and "Category:Wikipedians who have access to SOURCE" which contains all users displaying the partner's userbox. The examples found in en:Category:The Wikipedia Library can be used as models.

Step Four: Pre-Announcement Checklist

Before announcing the partnership, we need to make sure that all of the parts are clearly in place; some of these items include work off wiki. Make sure that you do each of the following:

Y Make sure all of the sections in Step One are updated to reflect the partner's resources and that there are no artefacts from the template page.

Y Review the citation example from Step One to make sure that it provides all of the most important details that you might need in the citation templates.

Y Make sure the Wikipedia Library card partner page is correct.

Y Make sure that the goodies in Step Three are updated to reflect the partner's resources.

Y Create a Google Doc template email that communicates all of the major elements of how the account will be processed.

Y Have the email template reviewed by Nikkimaria, Samwalton9 and/or Ocaasi.

Y Review the process for getting applicants access to the partner's resource. Do you need to communicate anything else on the signup page or by email?

Step Five: Announcing the Partnership

Here are the steps required for announcing new partnerships:

• Schedule an announcement – Announcements are done by Samwalton9 and/or Ocaasi using the announcements process at Processes/Announcing partnerships. Generally, we try to announce partnerships in small groups (2–4) so that we aren't sending too many emails/notifications to projects.
• Announce to relevant WikiProjects: Once the general announcement communications have been initiated via the process above, contact all relevant WikiProjects that might have an invested need for the source (for example, because the topical focus of Fold3 is military history, TWL announced this partnership directly to WP:MILHIST at the WikiProject's talk page).
• Respond to coordinator or partner concerns/questions: Sometimes the TWL staff, volunteer coordinators or partner representative will have questions/thoughts at this point, largely making sure that the language of the partner pages and the information communicated by TWL meets the requirements of our non-binding MoU with the partners. We try to create as much clarity of language to foster as much compliance as possible with the partner's requirements and communication goals, as long as it doesn't compromise Wikipedia community values/standards. This keeps our partners happy and helps us gain access to more resources.
• Kick back and enjoy editing Wikipedia. You are a volunteer: let the coordinators process the communications and make sure all the logistics are ready. In the meantime, edit Wikipedia! Have fun! Do something relaxing! The next step, processing of a new partnerships, can keep you busy with lots of communications.

Step Five:Processing Accounts

The processing of accounts comes in two stages: screening applicants and collecting relevant account information. Here are the appropriate steps:

Screening applicants

Screening applicants requires making sure that users comply with the requirements for the partnership, and that they have sufficient need for the database access. This process should be efficient (about 1–3 minutes each), with non-English accounts taking a little longer to screen. To review these applications, pay attention to the following:

Meeting basic requirements

Do the users meet basic requirements for the partnership? Here are a few diagnostics:

• Check if the user has a sufficient number of edits and sufficient length of involvement in Wikipedia to qualify for the partnership. This is best done with Popups and/or the "count" button on start-user8-end which signups should include.
• If the user isn't active on English Wikipedia, investigate which wiki they are active on, and check the age/number of edits. It's best to have Google Translate available when traveling to these non-English wikis. On many of the larger Wikipedias you can enable Popups via the preferences menu in that language. Moreover, the supercount tool included as a link in start-user8-end allows for choosing different languages. If you are having trouble identifying which languages they work on, check out the Global User Contributions tool which allows for checking recent changes by that user in other languages.
• Does the user have blocks on their account? If active mainly in another language, check there as well. Popups are the easiest way to check this; otherwise check for the users' name at the Block Log or its equivalent on other languages.
• Other concerns to keep in mind that may disqualify the applicant (per coordinator discretion):
  • Has the user posted their retirement on the user page?
  • Has the user not been regularly active in the last several months? (Thus the user may not actually use the account to support Wikipedia).

Editors that meet these basic criteria should almost always get access, except in cases where there is no demonstrated need for the resource.

Demonstrating need

Do the user demonstrate need? Here are some diagnostics:

Tier One

• Typically users will have a need for the database, and justify that need in their application. If they do so, and they meet the basic requirements: give them access.
• If you recognize the user as a high volume or quality contributor with good community reputation, there is no reason not to give them access; they usually understand what they are applying for, and the Wikipedia Library is designed to facilitate further contributions from volunteers that invest considerable energy in the community. Some indicators of this might be (though not always are):
  • A user page with:
    • Lots of barnstars
    • Lots of DYK, GA, or FA awards
    • Lots of articles included in a list of "Articles created" (this count is frequently different from the official count below, because writing articles over redirects and expanding stubs are not counted in the official numbers).
  • Site Administrator Status (though, sometimes, these users are primarily involved in community processes not content creation)
  • Contribution counts in excess of 15,000 edits (in English Wikipedia, these users are in the top 4300 contributors by volume; in other languages these users are much higher on the list).
  • Article counts in excess of 150 (in English Wikipedia, these users are in the top 3500 contributors by article creation).
• Note: Sometimes users will have personal expectations or beliefs about using partner's materials to "liberate" content which could compromise requirements, user expectations or partner Terms and Conditions. Make sure to question/query these when they come up in applications (such as data mining or liberating PD images); do not, however, go searching for these in their other contributions. Though we want to promote Open Access and Libre content at the Wikipedia Library, our entire project relies on the goodwill of publishers who control paywalled content antithetical to this sentiment.

Tier Two

If you have exhausted the Tier One demonstrations of need and want more confirmation, try the following:

• If they don't justify their need, and you don't recognize the user and their work, you may have to do a bit more digging on the user page or recent contributions to see if they contribute to topic areas that could be positively impacted by the partner's donation. The "User" tab on popups is invaluable for getting various reports on users (including direct links to talk pages, logs, etc). Other places to look are Special:Contributions, the supercount tool, Wikipedia User Contributions or WikiChecker. Don't spend too much time on this: it's not worth it for one user. Instead, move on to the next bullet.
• If you have trouble finding sufficient information about the user's contributions to justify their need for the database, start-ping-end them with a query on why they think the database would be useful. Sometimes users apply for accounts they really don't need, or don't understand what is available through the database.

Processing too many applications

For some high-demand partnerships, you will have too many applicants; when this is the case prioritize the following users in descending order (subject to coordinator discretion based on the following principle: TWL is designed to reward committed users and expand quality content: these should always be the first priority):

1. Users with a history of creating quality content (FA, GA, DYK, A-Class, B) on any language Wikipedia in a source-related topic area.
2. Users with a high frequency of editing in a relevant topic area, even if it hasn't been identified as quality content.
3. Users involved in new-article screening, Reference Exchange, Reference Desk, or any other community process that can multiply the impact of the partner access.
4. Users with a high frequency of creating content more generally.
5. Newer or lower volume contribution accounts

All applicants that don't get access in the first round but meet both the basic requirements and show a demonstration of need can be waitlisted for expansion of the partnership and/or the return of accounts from accepted users.

Approving/Denying users

Please see the guidance at The Wikipedia Library/Processes/Library card platform for instructions on coordinating applications using the Library Card platform.

Non-responsive users

If an applicant becomes unresponsive to your messages, it is our recommended practice to do the following:

• Give a brief message on unresponsive users's talk pages after about 1.5–2 weeks of sending the initial email.
• If still unresponsive, message them again in one more week.
• Finally, if users failed to respond within a week of the last message, and it has been longer than 4 weeks since sending the initial email, pass that slot on to a waitlisted user. Make sure to notify the original user that they can no longer have that account, because it has been passed on to another user.

If users contact you with a problem in accessing the email, and are making a good-faith attempt in getting information to you, extend the period before passing the slot on to other users. We should only be removing unresponsive users.

Step 6: Supporting Accounts

As a volunteer coordinator, and thus a first point of contact for a partnership, you will often get queries from users on technical issues with access to the partnership. Make sure to familiarize yourself with the process for getting access by attempting access and/or registration yourself. Moreover, make sure you know who the point of contact for the partner organization is; they will often be able to handle more complicated queries and/or issues. If you have concerns with answering an issue or run into a major problem that you don't have time to solve, make sure to reach out for help from User:Nikkimaria, User:Samwalton9 and/or User:Ocaasi.

Moreover, sometimes, extra opportunities such as blogging require contacting users for further activity, such as writing a blog post. When these opportunities arise, feel free to help the coordinators identify these opportunities. However, that is not your primary responsibility after issuing accounts.

Keep an eye on:

• Users wishing to return access to accounts. Some partnerships allow for this. Ask one of the main TWL coordinators how to do so, if this comes up.
• Any responses or queries to the talk page. Often these will be basic questions, answer them as best you can, and feel free to hand them off to one of the main TWL coordinators.
• Any response or queries on the talk page or the other subpages. Answer them as best you can, and feel free to hand them off to one of the main TWL coordinators.

Subsequent processes

At around the 6–7-month mark after distributing accounts (and every 12 months thereafter if the partnership is renewed), check in with users following this process to make sure they are continuing to make good use of their accounts. You should be reminded by the metric coordinator that this time frame has been hit (after two quarterly updates, we do a reminder for initiating a check-in).

At about one month before the end of user access, you should make sure that you know what the renewal strategy is for the particular partnership. See the overview of account renewal strategies at The Wikipedia Library/Processes/Account renewal strategies.