Librarians ARE Wikipedians

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/

info-society/iflawikipediaandpubliclibraries.pdf.

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

https://www.webjunction.org/explore-topics/wikipedia-libraries.html

OCLC WebJunction. Wikipedia + Libraries: Empower Communities to Learn from and Share Reliable Information. Retrieved March 5, 2019 from

https://www.oclc.org/en/member-stories/wikipedia-libraries.html

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

MLA 2019 - Two Favorite Programs

Two workshops at this year’s MLA Conference really stood out to me: What If … You Could Make Sense of Management and What If … Equality Is A Reality.

The What If … You Could Make Sense of Management Workshop was extremely helpful to me as a first time supervisor. This workshop was led by Professor Brian Butler from University of Maryland’s iSchool. The focus of the workshop was on how to navigate the creation of your personal leadership toolbox in order to make dealing with the myriad of issues and personalities that you are responsible for less stressful and more effective. We discussed the various stakeholders that are involved in the operations of a public library and the many demands that they make on our resources. It was really helpful to hear from peers from different types of library environments and with different levels of management experience on how they deal with these, often conflicting, demands on their resources. Some of the issues discussed were ones that I have already had to deal with as a new supervisor and some of the issues were ones that I had not considered. The end conclusion of this workshop was that management is hard and if you think that it’s easy or that you have a one-size-fit-all solution, then you are doing it wrong.

The other workshop that I found particularly compelling was What If .. Equality Is A Reality. This workshop was led by Dr. Michael Edge from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and the College of Education at Wilmington University, and his ability to combine his life experience with the topic matter was compelling. He spoke about implicit biases and how they impact our relationships with one another. While I’ve been to several trainings that have discussed implicit biases in some form or another, Dr. Edge spoke on this sensitive topic in a way that was both highly impactful and not at all blaming or shaming of the participants. One of the things that he brought up over and over again was that you can not blame someone for having implicit biases, they are something that are formed in your childhood by circumstances that you have no control over because you were a child.

This was a welcome approach to the topic since many such trainings on implicit biases have a tone that seems intended to instill a sense of guilt in participants. This approach led to a more open and, in my opinion, honest discussion of the participants’ experiences with implicit biases. The workshop discussed how these biases impact our interactions with customers, both internal and external, and our ability to give excellent customer service. The only downside of the workshop was that it was too short to cover the breadth of the topic.

Kalyn Shields

Pennsylvania Avenue Branch

MLA 2019 - Favorite Program

One of my absolute favorite and most valuable trainings at MLA was Cindy Pol of BCPL’s training on serving Latino customers. I learned some fascinating facts about demographics of Latinx customers in Maryland, such as the fact that Hispanics in Maryland have the highest median income in the nation. 

We also went over the cultural norms of Central America, where the plurality of Latinos in Maryland are from. We learned crucial vocabulary and outreach strategies for reaching our newest neighbors and practiced filling in a map of Latin America. It was a humbling and educational cultural experience.

 I was excited to see several Pratt employees in the audience- I can’t wait for us to put our cultural competencies to use to reach Spanish-speaking and Latinx Baltimoreans!

Cornelia Beckett

School and Student Services

MLA 2019 - Highlights

This year’s MLA & DLA Joint Library Conference was probably one of the best I’ve attended in recent years. There was so much offered, that if I had any complaints at all, it would only be that I didn’t get a chance to go to all of the sessions I wanted to.

A major highlight for me was the film screening of “I Know a Man…Ashley Bryan.” As a former children’s librarian, I spent many hours sharing the books of Ashley Bryan to many, many pre-school aged, and older children, and their caregivers. He’s a wonderfully gifted artist, and storyteller, and the film documents so much about him that I didn’t know.

Another presentation that stands out is the one “What if…Every Library Supporter was an Informed Advocate: Federal Legislative Update.” As a result of attending this seminar, I have a much better understanding of the Federal Appropriations process as it relates to libraries, and specifically as it relates to Baltimore City, Dorchester County (Cambridge), and Somerset Counties, as well as other jurisdictions in the State of Maryland.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the William G. Wilson, Maryland Author Award luncheon honoring author Mary Amato. It was heart-warming to have her begin her speech by singing to the audience, and playing the ukulele. She became genuinely emotional, and it was humbling to witness someone with such great talent sincerely appreciating all the accolades she so clearly deserves.

Vera Fattah

Librarian Supervisor II, Reisterstown Rd. Branch

LATI fall participants graduate

On 4/17/19, five EPFL library associates completed their required Library Associate Training Institute program.  The graduation program was held at the Miller Branch of the Howard County Library System.  

Pictured are (left to right) Emilie Pichot, Suzanne Phillips, Stephanie Mavor, Ariel Greenaway, and Cicely Roberts.

  

We're back!

Sorry for the hiatus everyone, but there was a problem when we moved back to Central and we didn't have access to the blog for a while.  We're back now, and have a few things to add to the blog so stay tuned.

Learning 2018 - Conference Review

In November I attended the Learning 2018 conference in Orlando.  This was the 28th year of this conference, which brings learning and development professionals together from around the world.  This year there were 1873 attendees from 27 different countries were represented, who are responsible for learning and development for over 30 million employees worldwide.

The theme of the conference this year was "Learning Changes."  Learners are changing, technology is changing, as are expectations and the economy.  The other main theme of the conference this year was the need for diversity, what it really means, and that cultivating diversity isn't just culturally positive, but can bring about economic improvements as well.  Other themes running through the conference included leadership development and designing effective onboarding for new staff. 

One idea that regularly was mentioned was the idea of fear and how it prevents us from achievement.  Keynote speaker Leslie Odom Jr. said that he recognized that all the things he wants in life are "on the other side of my fear," and session leader Deepak Sethi suggested that the way to overcome fear is to do more of the thing that you fear.  I even experienced a tiny bit of fear myself when trying to drive a bulldozer in the construction simulation machine, where the danger isn't real but is noticable and can affect performance.

I also learned some interesting but random things, like the fact that there are conferences for people who design and run haunted houses, that walking in a small group in a natural setting is the best stress reliever, and that  Plants vs. Zombies is a good learning game because you have to plan ahead and adapt.  I also learned that when NASCAR pit crews change tires they leave the lug nuts on the ground and they are routinely hit by these and other debris as the car returns to the track, and that in Fortune 1000 companies there are more CEOs named David than there are women, and only 3 are African-American.

Lisa R. Kenyon
Staff Development and Training