an introduction to wikipedia and cataloguing issues kmenzies@cis.strath.ac.uk

An Introduction to Wikipedia

and Cataloguing Issues

kmenzies@cis.strath.ac.uk

The Glasgow Digital The Glasgow Digital Library and WikipediaLibrary and Wikipedia

In 2003, the CDLR established

'The Maxton Papers’'The Maxton Papers’ as part of the

Glasgow Digital Library. Alan Dawson and Jane Barton decided

to monitor how highly ‘The Maxton

Papers’ were ranked on Google.

A Usurper!A Usurper!

For several months, they were in 11stst

position Spartacus’ page on Maxton pushed

them down into 22ndnd position Pushed into 33rdrd by Wikipedia

Wikipedia was clearly Wikipedia was clearly important...important...

Potential BenefitsPotential Benefits

Increased interest in information retrieval Participatory relationship between

users/producers Increase visibility of your collection Ensure users provided with accurate

information Encourage drive toward standardisation Engage with local/global communities Mutually beneficial arrangement

A Call for ParticipationA Call for Participation

“We do not believe that any resource tool can be reliable

without scholarly input; this is why we so warmly

welcome and invite the contributions of experts. It is a

longstanding mistake to think of Wikipedia as being

anti-elitist. Virtually every top Wikipedian I know is an

elitist of the best sort:

We love people who know what they are talking about.”

- Jimmy Wales, founder of WikipediaJimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia

PAC 2.0!PAC 2.0!

Users’ experience of information seeking

and retrieval is changing… Wikipedia creates a hypertext/browsing model

of searching The model may be different but… Underlying purposes and goals are the same as

traditional catalogues

Entry points to knowledgeEntry points to knowledge

Wikipedia is a good starting point for information seeking I believe it may actually CREATE a potential user group for libraries There is lots of overlap between Library and Web 2.0 philosophies Provided that libraries engage with/understand the phenomenon, they can benefit from it

Complementary Complementary Philosophies?Philosophies?http://search.wikia.com/wiki/Search_WikiaWikia’s Four Organizing Principles (TCQP) – state thatthe future of Internet Search must be based on:

Transparency - Openness in how the systems operate

Community - Everyone is able to contribute in some way Quality - Significantly improve the relevancy and accuracy of search results Privacy - Must be protected

Some Familiar Some Familiar CategorisationsCategorisations Overviews of Wikipedia Featured content

Lists Including - Topics and Basic Topics

Glossaries Categorical Indices Alphabetical Indices

And some Innovative ones…And some Innovative ones… Portals Timelines

A Nod to traditional A Nod to traditional schemesschemes Wikipedia's other broad categorical indices are:

List of Dewey Decimal classes — lists the top two classes of each subject Library of Congress Classification Outline of Roget's Thesaurus — articles organised into a system based on six classes, with thousands of branches, following Roget's system

A Wikipedian explains:A Wikipedian explains:

“From 2003, it became clear that listing articles in a topic area was an important activity, and I did a lot of that for mathematics. When categories appeared, they seemed like lists, but with different, overlapping functionality. So WP moved to lists+categories.Of course you could have a list of any kind. Some lists get removed as frivolous and not helpful. But in general both lists and categories have a navigational role.Any particular addition of a category is fallible.”

- Charles R. Matthews, Editor, Wikipedia

Entry points for LibrariesEntry points for Libraries

Entry points into the subject of Libraries/Librarians on Wikipedia:

Library and Information Science Portal: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Library_and_information_science

This portal is a ‘featured portal’ meaning it is “regarded as being particularly useful, attractive, and well-maintained.”

Topic list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_basic_library_and_information_science_topics

Project to introduce Librarians to Wikipedia and the world of Wikipedians, and vice versa!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Librarians

Exposing your collection!Exposing your collection!

Create an entry for your organisation on Wikipedia, as the California Digital Library and Bodleian Library have done

Allow users to find your collection by creating external links on relevant pages for example: Create a link to Maxton Papers on I.L.P article

Becoming involved in improving and updating the Library and Information Science portal: LIS Portal

Forthcoming BookForthcoming Book

‘How Wikipedia Works’ by Matthews et al.

Publication date: May/June 2008

No Starch Press Ltd.

By Charles R. Matthews and Phoebe Ayers,

both Librarians, who sit on Wikipedia’s

Arbitration Board.ISBN 10: 1-59327-176-X

ISBN 13:9781593271763

For the really pro-active…For the really pro-active…

Use the free Wikimedia software to create a Wiki for your own collection, independent of the main Wikipedia site Get involved in the WikiLibrary Project run by Michael Sauers and others Add learning materials on Cataloguing to Wikiversity to encourage awareness of the profession Upload some text/images to Wikipedia Commons

No way to ignore it…No way to ignore it…

Even if you do not wish to become an activeEven if you do not wish to become an active

proponent of Wikipedia, it is still a good proponent of Wikipedia, it is still a good

idea to check from time to time, that links to idea to check from time to time, that links to

your site, mentions of your institution your site, mentions of your institution

or images/text taken from your collection or images/text taken from your collection

and added to Wikipedia comply with and added to Wikipedia comply with

copyright regulations.copyright regulations.