The Wiki Scholars Program was
highlighted by Staff Development & Training in Fall 2018. The program
instructs professionals in academia and libraries to become Wikipedia editors
and/or initiate library partnerships with Wikipedia. The program was presented
by the Wiki Education Foundation https://wikiedu.org/ and
sponsored by the National Archives and Records Administration.
As a result
of the Centennial Celebration of Women’s Suffrage celebrated in March 2020 many
archives, libraries and museums are preparing and expanding content on this
theme. Wikipedia is no exception. It was an honor to be a part of a
Wikipedia Scholars cohort as we learned to edit and create 2 biographical
articles to increase the quality and quantity of information about suffragists
on Wikipedia. Our instructions included using mainly secondary resources to
create articles. Having chosen two Baltimore suffragists I searched some
resources familar to librarians such as the Library of Congress, the Maryland
Historical Society and several databases. It was more challenging than I had
anticipated to find resources that were both in the public domain and
accessible online. I had the opportunity to review resources that were less
familiar to me such as SNAC at the National Archives and Records Administration
http://snaccooperative.org and the
HEARTH Archive at Cornell http://hearth.library.cornell.edu.
Since most
Wikipedians are male there is a disproportionate amount of male editors and
this seeps out in the form of lack of information by and about women. Through
the Scholars program my cohort along with others were able to make
contributions that change that statistic. Becoming a Wikipedian is a
positive way to engage and make a change for the better so I hope other
librarians will be encouraged to participate. Though It was intense I am glad I
gave myself this challenge which led to a sense of accomplishment, inspiration,
and motivation to do more.
The
majority of my time was spent finding facts about suffrage and the lives of
women in early 20th century Baltimore. With a cohort of about 8 librarians we
met online weekly to review our progress, work out any difficulties, and take
self-administered quizes to check our mastery of quality fact-finding,
copyright issues and editing. By the end of the 3 month program I had created
an article about Etta Haynie Maddox, vocalist, suffragist and first Maryland
woman to attend law school (Baltimore Law School now the school of law,
University of Maryland) to become a lawyer, sit for the Bar exam and practice
law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etta_Haynie_Maddox.
Though disappointed that her photo
was under copyright I was pleased to complete my first article by bringing an
unknown Baltimore lawyer and suffragist into view. In 1902, Maddox successfully
fought the state legislature to permit Maryland women to take the Maryland bar
exam and practice law. In 1910 she submitted the first suffrage bill to the
Maryland state legislature. For those who might be interested, it was exciting
to find a bit about her sister at our own www.digitalmaryland.org here <ahref="http://collections.digitalmaryland.org/cdm/ref/collection/scws/id/462">Page
2 (page 1 is missing)</a>
For a second
article I chose to edit an existing biography about another Baltimore
suffragist, Edith Houghton Hooker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Houghton_Hooker. Hooker was
a social worker who attended Johns Hopkins in the early 1900s and became part
of the social hygiene movement. She believed women’s rights and women’s public
health challenges could gain much needed attention by supporting womens’ right
to vote. She founded the Just Government League of Maryland, established the Maryland
Suffrage News and became the editor for the national newspaper, The
Suffragist. There are some primary source materials regarding Hooker at www.digitalmaryland.org such as
this suffrage phamphlet dated around 1912 http://collections.digitalmaryland.org/cdm/ref/collection/scws/id/107 for those
interested.
The nature
of Wikipedia as an open access repository of information that anyone can edit
may seem unsavory until, like with most new initiatives, involvement in
contributing to articles and engaging in the Wikipedia community reveals the
many attributes and benefits for librarians and libraries. Then there is an
awesome discovery that even Wikipedia itself makes users aware of their tools
that should be used to verify information found on Wikipedia. Wikipedia even
provides the caveat that not everything you find will be accurate-it is a
dynamic platform that is in constant motion. Though clearly accuracy is what
the organization strives to do with multiple layered checks for quality
control. But there is an increased need to engage librarians in order to have
greater accuracy in citations and reference lists. Additionally its an environment
that can be used to educate patrons about determining what is fact and what is
fiction. The realization dawns that engagement in this self-described
encyclopedia of the world is a win-win partnership for public libraries. To
find out more about engaging library patrons in Wikipedia see GLAM-Wiki on page
4 https://www.ifla.org/files/assets/hq/topics/
The future
is more than promising for this resource to continue to grow in quality and
quantity. It is already being used as a teaching tool, reference resource, and
to engage communities in a stronger sense of ownership of their own history.
Its informative, fun, and gives power to its users, editors and libraries to
change the world and provide access to otherwise hidden or limited-access
information and collections.
Finally, in addition to the objectives to make
Wikipedia more accurate, complete and accessible there are efforts to make it
more inclusive across all subjects and all underrepresented people. Editing
biographies, for example, helps to remove bias and highlight the rich diversity
that makes up the real world. Correcting a citation supports increased accuracy
and reliability. Uploading historic Baltimore photos can help to address
underrepresented communities. Who better to do that than public librarians that
already show students of all ages how to find accurate information, who strive
for diversity and inclusivity in storytime and collection selection, and seek
to provide access to technology, research guides, educational events, and
electronic materials that address the needs of their communities every day?
See Also
Cummings, John,
Fenoll, Carme, Hinojo, Alex & Tramullas, Jesus. (2016). Opportunities
for Public Libraries and Wikipedia: a discussion paper [International Federation
of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), The Information Society, News,
20 January 2017, Presenting the IFLA Wikipedia Opportunities Papers]. Url: https://www.ifla.org/node/11131.
OCLC WebJunction.
Wikipedia + Libraries: Better Together. Retrieved March 5, 2019 from
OCLC WebJunction.
Wikipedia + Libraries: Empower Communities to Learn from and Share Reliable
Information. Retrieved March 5, 2019 from
Proffitt, M.
(2018). Leveraging Wikipedia: Connecting Communities of Knowledge
9780838916322.
Publisher: American Library Association. https://books.google.com/books?id=hYZ8DwAAQBAJ
Rose Anne Ullrich,
Librarian
Information
Services
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