by Beth Staats
Quick Summary
Hosting a Wikipedia edit-a-thon can be a meaningful way to highlight your collections, apply them to research, and bring new users into your library. This session will cover the basic considerations for planning, preparing and running a Wikipedia event at your library.
Hosting a Wikipedia edit-a-thon can be a meaningful way to highlight your collections, apply them to research, and bring new users into your library. This session will cover the basic considerations for planning, preparing and running a Wikipedia event at your library.
Join Minitex staff as we host guest speakers, Margit Wilson and Janos McGhie.
Margit Wilson is the Assistant Librarian at the Walker Art Center. She oversees the Rosemary Furtak Collection of artist books in addition to maintaining a general collection of library materials devoted to contemporary art. She is the secretary/treasurer for the Twin Cities chapter of the Art Libraries Society of North America, and a member of the national organization with special interests in book arts and women in the arts. On March 8, 2015, she co-hosted a Wikipedia edit-a-thon at the Walker Art Center in participation with the Art+Feminism campaign to “improve coverage of women and the arts on Wikipedia, and to encourage female editorship” (artplusfeminism.org). A novice editor, she finds editing Wikipedia pages empowering and is enthusiastic about participation.
János McGhie is a librarian with Saint Paul Public Library. He is currently the assistant manager of the Sun Ray branch and project coordinator of Createch, SPPL's teen art-and-science program. Following a realization that librarians ought to be involved in the world's most-used reference resource, he has been a dedicated contributor to Wikipedia since 2008. As the Minnesota representative of an international effort to build ties between Wikipedia and educational organizations like libraries and museums, he has participated in numerous presentations, workshops, and edit-a-thons.
