Slides for a talk on "Why and How Librarians Should Engage With Wikipedia" given by Brian Kelly, Innovation Advocate at Cetis, University of Bolton at the CILIPS Autumn Gathering 2014 event in Edinburgh on 30 October 2014. See http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/events/why-and-how-librarians-should-engage-with-wikipedia/

1. Event hashtag:
#CILIPSAG14
Why and How Librarians Should
Engage With Wikipedia
Presentation by Brian Kelly, UKOLN on 25 October 2012
for an Open Access Week event at the University of Exeter
1
Talk by Brian Kelly, Cetis on 30 October 2014 at the
CILIPS Autumn Gathering in Edinburgh

2. Event hashtag: #CILIPSAG14
Why and How Librarians Should
Engage With Wikipedia
Brian Kelly
Innovation Advocate
Cetis
University of Bolton
Bolton, UK
Contact Details
Email: ukwebfocus@gmail.com
Twitter: @briankelly
Cetis Web site: http://www.cetis.ac.uk/
Blog: http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/
Slides and further information available at
http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/events/why-and-how-librarians-should-engage-
with-wikipedia/

3. 3
Source cited!
3
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4. About Me
Brian Kelly:
• Innovation Advocate at Cetis, Bolton University
Involvement in Wikipedia and Wikimedia UK:
• Created first article in 2004 and involved in training / edit-a-thons
since 2013 as an accredited Wikipedia trainer
• Recent talks on:
 Wikipedia, Wikimedia UK and Higher Education: Developments in
the UK, Eduwiki Serbia 2014
 Editing Wikipedia: Why You Should and How You Can Support Your
Users, CILIP Wales 2014
 Wikipedia Editing Workshop – In a Nutshell, LILAC 2014
 Open Knowledge: Wikipedia and Beyond, Cetis 2014
• Poster display on Wikimedia & Metrics at 1:AM Alt.metrics conference
Regard Wikipedia as:
• An example of an Open Educational Practice
• Of particular importance to library sector
Introduction
4

5. About This Talk
Abstract
It's a popular information resource: it's one of the
five most popular websites in the world, clocking
over 21 billion hits every month.
So why wouldn't librarians engage with
Wikipedia?
Don't librarians and information professionals
have responsibilities to ensure that not only are
they able to evaluate Wikipedia articles and
advise their users but also for improving
Wikipedia articles and helping their users to do
this? 5

6. Your Approaches
Which aspect of following
spectrum best summarises your
library’s approaches to use of
Wikipedia by your users:
A. Against: Warn against it
B. Neutral, but negative:
Accept it will be used, but
begrudgingly
C. Neutral, but positive:
Accept it will be used, and
content with this approach
D. Positive & pro-active:
Welcome its use and advise
on its strengths and
weaknesses (courses,
posters, etc.)
6
Poster on teaching Wikipedia to school
pupils at University of Birmingham

7. About You
Who has:
• Used Wikipedia?
• Has a Wikipedia account?
• Has edited Wikipedia
articles?
• Has taught or advised their
users on use of Wikipedia
Who would:
• Like to create an account?
• Create a user profile?
• Perhaps even update an
article?
Feel free to do this during this
talk!
7
Is the article accurate?
Can it be improved?

8. Wikipedia's Purpose and Key Principles
Wikipedia's purpose is:
to benefit readers by acting as an
encyclopedia, a comprehensive written
compendium that contains information
on all branches of knowledge.
As described by Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia's founder:
Imagine a world in which every single person on the
planet is given free access to the sum of all human
knowledge. That's what we're doing.
8

9. Wikipedia's Key Principles
Wikipedia seeks to achieve its goal by its five pillars:
1. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia: Wikipedia is not, for example, a soapbox,
an advertising platform, a vanity press, an indiscriminate collection of
information, or a web directory.
2. Wikipedia is written from a neutral point of view: Wikipedia strives for
articles that document & explain the major points of view, giving due weight
with respect to their prominence in an impartial tone. It avoids advocacy
and we characterize information and issues rather than debate them.
3. Wikipedia is free content that anyone can use, edit, and distribute:
Since all editors freely licence their work to the public, no editor owns an
article and any contributions can and will be freely edited and redistributed.
4. Editors should treat each other with respect and civility: Contributors
are expected to respect fellow Wikipedians, even when you disagree.
Apply Wikipedia etiquette, and don't engage in personal attacks.
5. Wikipedia has no firm rules: Wikipedia has policies and guidelines, but
they are not carved in stone; their content and interpretation can evolve
over time. Their principles and spirit matter more than their literal wording,
and sometimes improving Wikipedia requires making an exception.
9

10. Characteristics of Librarians
According to LibraryScienceList.com key characteristics
of librarians include:
• A love of knowledge and learning
• A desire to work around people
• Broad overall knowledge of life and the world
• Strong organisational skills
• Good with numbers
• Friendly
• Ethical
• Personable
• Affinity for working with large volumes of information
• Computer skills
10
In addition, IMHO, a desire to:
• Share these interests & passions
with others
• Enhance the information literacy of
others
• Encourage others to adopt ethical
approaches in use of information
See http://librarysciencelist.com/core-competencies-of-librarianship/

11. Librarians and Wikipedia – An Ideal Match!
zz
11
Librarian Characteristics Relevance to Wikipedia
A love of knowledge and
learning
Aligned with Wikipedia's goal of "a world in which every single
person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all
human knowledge".
A desire to work around
people
There is a strong Wikipedia community: in October 2013 there
were 31,000 active editors with about half of the active
editors spending at least one hour a day editing.
Broad overall knowledge of
life and the world
Wikipedia provides access to broad knowledge of life and the
world and the ability to share such knowledge with others.
Strong organizational skills In order to help manage the 4,616,531+ articles there will be a
need to have good organisation skills.
Friendly and personable Aligned with Wikipedia principle that Editors should treat
each other with respect and civility.
Ethical Ethical considerations underpin the five pillars.
Affinity for working with
This is of direct relevance to Wikipedia.
large amount of information
Computer skills This is of direct relevance to Wikipedia.

12. Wikipedia and Librarians – An Ideal Match!
How do Wikipedia’s five pillars relate to librarians:
1. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia: Librarians are familiar with encyclopedias,
including their strengths and weaknesses.
2. Wikipedia is written from a neutral point of view: Librarians will warn
against personalisation features of Google, which can act as an ‘echo
chamber’ and not provide neutral answers to queries.
3. Wikipedia is free content that anyone can use, edit, and distribute:
Librarians have been pro-active in encouraging open access policies, to
minimise costs of journal subscriptions and maximise access to research.
4. Editors should treat each other with respect and civility: Librarians will
have similar rules regarding use of library space.
5. Wikipedia has no firm rules: Hmm
12
Ranganathan’s Five Laws of Library Science (1931):
And growth due to technological developments!
5: The library is a growing organism
This law focused on the need for internal change than on changes in the environment itself.
Ranganathan argued that library organizations must accommodate growth in staff, the physical
collection and patron use. This involved allowing for growth in the physical building, reading
areas, shelving, and in space for the catalog.

13. Creating A Wikipedia Account
Who would:
• Like to create an account?
• Create a user profile?
Feel free to do this during this
talk. Note:
• Creating a user account
takes ~ a minute!
• Creating / updating a user
profile takes ~ 1 - 5 minutes!
13
Click here from any Wikipedia page
If you create a Wikipedia account or create/ update a profile page, feel free to:
• Send a Twitter message that you have done so.
• Say how long it took

14. Is Wikipedia Relevant?
Is Wikipedia:
• Relevant to your engagement with your
user community?
• A problem for your engagement with your
user community?
Wikipedia in the library - the elephant in the
(reading) room? Nancy Graham and Andrew
Gray, LILAC 2014
14

15. Is Wikipedia Relevant?
Is Wikipedia:
• Relevant to your engagement with your
user community?
• A problem for your engagement with your
user community?
Wikipedia in the library - the elephant in the
(reading) room? Nancy Graham and Andrew
Gray, LILAC 2014
15

16. Why Wikipedia is Important
From Wikimedia UK
https://wiki.wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Expert_outreach

17. Top Tips
No. 1: Understand why Wikipedia is important to librarians
17

18. Eduwiki (UK) 2013
Eduwiki 2013 conference:
• Held in Cardiff on 1-2 Dec
2013
• Second EduWiki UK
conference
Covered:
• Case studies from higher
education and schools
• Broader considerations
18
Note
Eduwiki 2014 conference to be
held in St Leonard's Hall,
Edinburgh tomorrow (fully booked)

19. Two Case Studies
Summary of two case studies presented at EduWiki 2013:
• Safe Use of Wikipedia in the Transition from School
to University, Lisa Anderson and Nancy Graham,
University of Birmingham (now Roehampton)
• Introducing Students to Independent Research
through Editing Wikipedia Articles on English
Villages, Humphrey Southall, University of
Portsmouth
19
EduWiki 2013

20. Outreach work by University
of Birmingham Library
• Demonstrate information
literacy approaches to
school pupils
• Students surprised that
Wikipedia was shown
20

21. Introducing Students to Independent Research
through Editing Wikipedia Articles on English Villages
This was the assignment (see “Telling the stories of rural
England with Wikipedia” )
Humphrey Southall at
EduWiki conference
21

22. Introducing Students to Independent Research
through Editing Wikipedia Articles on English Villages
22
Notice how Neutral Point of View principle was
addressed

23. Introducing Students to Independent Research
through Editing Wikipedia Articles on English Villages
Original Wikipedia article for
Sawley, North Yorkshire
Example of article chosen for updating by student 23

24. After Updates
24
EduWiki 2013
Map and factual
information in “infobox”
Introduction (with
links to other relevant
Wikipedia articles
Table of contents
(auto-generated)
History

25. Introducing Students to Independent Research
through Editing Wikipedia Articles on English Villages
Students learn about researching and citations
25

26. Top Tips
No. 2: Understand how Wikipedia is being used in
education
26

27. Wikipedia Behind the Article
Who has looked at the information about a Wikipedia
article (the Talk and View history pages)? 27

28. Wikipedia Behind the Article
We can see the history of the development of an
article (contributors, update dates; …) 28

29. Top Tips
No. 3: Gain a better understanding of the Wikipedia service
29

30. Be Willing to Update Wikipedia Articles
You:
• Spot an error in a
Wikipedia article
30
Are there still 28 public
libraries in Edinburgh?

31. Be Willing to Update Wikipedia Articles
You:
• Spot an error in a
Wikipedia article
• Identify an area for
improvement
As an information professional
wouldn’t you wish to ensure that
information (text, links &
metadata) is accurate and
comprehensive? Especially if:
31
• This can be done in
minutes (or seconds!)
• Page is likely to be easily
found in Google
Do these links still work?
Are these categories
comprehensive?
Text & images
Links
Metadata

32. Top Tips
No. 4: Be willing to update Wikipedia articles
32

33. Metadata for Wikipedia Articles
You:
• Identify gaps in
Wikipedia’s
coverage
33
Does this category cover all
Libraries in Edinburgh with
Wikipedia articles? Note there
are 28 public libraries

34. Metadata for Wikipedia Articles
You:
• Identify gaps in
Wikipedia’s
coverage
34
Does this category cover all
Cities in Scotland with
Libraries 

35. Top Tips
No. 5: Be willing to create new Wikipedia articles
(but first learn editing basics by creating a Wikipedia profile)
35

36. Why You Should Have a Wikipedia
Account
Using a Wikipedia
account to edit
articles is
recommended:
• Openness
• Record of
contributions
Ability to:
• Create new
articles
• Join in
discussions
• Have customised
preferences
• …
36

37. Creating an Account
Feel free to:
• Go to a Wikipedia page
and click Create
Account
• Then complete the form
A: New
users
37
Did you do it in less than
a minute?

38. Top Tips
No. 6: Create a Wikipedia account
38

39. Create a User Profile
Nancy Graham’s user profile
39
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Msnancygraham
Use search box as a quick
way to find user profiles
User: msnancygraham

40. Create a User Profile
Nancy Graham’s user profile
40
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Msnancygraham
User: msnancygraham

41. Today’s Goal : Create a User Profile
http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/User:Lawsonstu
41

42. Top Tips
No. 7: Create a Wikipedia profile
42

43. Be Ethical!
Quality of
Wikipedia
articles is
provided by
volunteer effort
Please do not:
• Introduce
errors to see
how soon
they are
corrected
43
[[London]]

44. Outreach work by Uni of
Birmingham Library
• Demonstrate information
literacy approaches to
school pupils
• Surprise that Wikipedia
was shown
Discussion:
“Live edit a Wikipedia entry – highlight
how quickly edits are corrected”
But should pages be ‘vandalised’ in order
to demonstrate how the community fixes
such vandalism?
Highlighted need to address best practices
for those who teach use of Wikipedia.
44

45. Top Tips
No. 8: Be ethical
45

46. Content Can Change!
Changes to the Jalalpur, Bihar arty=icle
46
Pages which can be improved are
tagged (can be useful for new editors)
Minor edit made

47. Content Can Change!
Changes to the Jalalpur, Bihar arty=icle
47
This article was proposed for deletion by
Lfstevens on 2 May 2014 with the comment:
unnotable, uncited stub
It was contested by Necrothesp on 7 May 2014
with the comment:
deprod; all settlements are considered to be
notable; cleaned up

48. Content Can Change!
Current version (15 Oct 2014)48

49. Top Tips
No. 9: Be prepared for your contributions to be changed
(normally improved!)
49

50. The Five Pillars
Fundamental principles by which the Wikimedia
community operates...
Wikipedia:
1. is an encyclopedia
2. is written from a neutral point of view
3. is free content that anyone can
edit / use/ modify / share
4. editors should respect each other
5. does not have any firm rules
50

51. Key Principles for Content (1)
No original research
All research must come from published sources e.g.
• Peer-reviewed journals
• Peer-reviewed books
• University-level textbooks
• Magazines, journals and books published by
respected publishing houses
• Mainstream newspapers
51

52. Key Principles for Content (2)
Neutral Point of View
Content should be provided from a neutral point of view:
• If your viewpoint is in the majority, then it should be
easy to substantiate it with reference to commonly
accepted reference texts;
• If your viewpoint is held by a significant minority,
then it should be easy to name prominent
adherents;
• If your viewpoint is held by an extremely small
minority, then — whether it's true or not, whether
you can prove it or not — it doesn't belong in
Wikipedia, except perhaps in some ancillary article.
52

53. Top Tips
No. 10: Understand the Wikipedia principles
53

54. Be Bold!
The “Be bold” principle
54

55. User Queries About CILIP
Queries which you might expect answers to be easily
found:
• How many members does CILIP have?
• What are the trends in membership numbers
since CILIP was founded?
• (What are the reasons for trends in membership
numbers?)
55

56. CILIP Entry (June 2014)
CILIP Entry (June 2014) -
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chartered_Inst
itute_of_Library_and_Information_Professionals&oldid=
613774361
56

57. CILIP entry, Sept 2014
CILIP entry, Sept 2014
57

58. CILIP Entry (Soon!)
Planned update to CILIP article
58

59. What Do The Numbers Tell Us?
Linear trends in decline of CILIP membership numbers
No evidence of impact of:
• Change of government
• Onset of austerity measures
• Changes in CILIP management
• Changes in CILIP governance
59
ALA membership numbers
ALA membership nos. available
(and easily found) since 1900

60. Advocacy Or Unbiased Information?
Member attrition 1st
January – 28th February
2014
.. Whilst there has been a
slight increase in attrition
rates for the same period
last year, the recent
figures support the trend
towards an “attrition
plateau”.
Trends
Looking at the year on
year graph of
membership figure, 2014
continues to reflect
positive trends compared
with previous years, but
this will become more
realistic as the year
progresses.
60
Taken from Financial report for the year ended
December 2013 and membership report to 28
February 2014 (page 8)

61. Advocacy Or Unbiased Information?
“CILIP is the leading body representing the information
professions. We believe in a literate, knowledgeable and
connected society. We build the professionalism of our
members by supporting the development of skills,
knowledge and excellence. We provide unity through
shared values and advocate on behalf of the information
professions.”
61
Tension: CILIP acts as a advocacy body for a profession in which
neutrality and objectivity are an important characteristic

62. A Wikipedia Article for CILIPS?
Should there be a
Wikipedia article
for CILIPS?
Issues:
• Is CILIPS
62
noteworthy?
• Sources of
information for
an article.
• Having a
neutral POV
• See CILI talk
page

63. Top Tips
No. 11: Be aware of tensions and conflicts of interest when
seeking to provide factual information on Wikipedia
(and use Talk page to declare possible conflicts of interest)
63

64. Conclusions
1. Understand why Wikipedia is important to librarians
2. Understand how Wikipedia is being used in
education
3. Gain a better understanding of the Wikipedia service
4. Be willing to update Wikipedia articles
5. Be willing to create Wikipedia articles
6. Create a Wikipedia account
7. Create a Wikipedia profile
8. Be ethical
9. Be prepared for your contributions to be changed
10.Understand the Wikipedia principles
11.Be aware of tensions and conflicts of interest when
seeking to provide factual information on Wikipedia
64

65. ANY QUESTIONS?
Cartoon
65

66. Questions?
Any questions, comments, …?
66

67. Licence and Additional Resources
This presentation, “Why and How Librarians Should Engage With
Wikipedia” by Brian Kelly, Cetis is licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 Licence
Note the licence covers most of the text in this presentation. Quotations
may have other licence conditions.
Images may have other licence conditions. Where possible links are
provided to the source of images so that licence conditions can be found.
67
Slides and further information available at
http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/events/why-and-how-librarians-should-engage-
with-wikipedia/