GLAM/Newsletter/February 2026/Contents/Spain report
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Wikidata in the GLAM context II
Wikidata in the GLAM context II
On 25 February, Wikimedia Spain held the second edition of Wikidata in the GLAM context (the first was held online in July 2025) in the conference room of the Prado National Museum, under the title ‘Connected Heritage: Wikidata in the GLAM Ecosystem’. The meeting brought together professionals from museums, libraries, archives, universities, and digital communities to reflect on a common challenge: how to better connect cultural heritage through open data.
The opening was led by Alfonso Palacio, Deputy Director of Conservation at the Prado, who celebrated the fact that this second edition of Wikidata in the GLAM ecosystem consolidates the previous meeting as a benchmark event with national and international reach. Gustavo Candela, member of the Board of Directors of Wikimedia Spain and professor at the University of Alicante, thanked the Prado for its ongoing collaboration and highlighted a key idea:
Wikidata is much more than a database: it is a living ecosystem that connects collections, data and people.
A phrase that sums up the spirit of the day: opening up, structuring and connecting cultural heritage so that it travels beyond the physical walls of institutions.
The following presentations were given:
- Connectivity and cooperation to generate knowledge. Projects developed between the Prado Museum and Wikidata: Ana Mª Martín Bravo, Head of Documentation and Archiving at the Prado National Museum
- Open library data: Wikidata as infrastructure: Elena Sánchez Nogales, Director of the Library of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID)
- A European perspective on cultural heritage: digital collections, research data, community engagement: Alba Irollo, Research Coordinator at the Europeana Foundation
- Integration of data from Wikidata into local records. An experience from the National Library of Spain: Ricardo Santos Muñoz, Director of the Technical Process Department at the National Library of Spain
- Visualisation of enriched data: From a library catalogue to interactive end products through Wikidata and Wikimedia: Modesto Escobar, Professor of Sociology at the University of Salamanca, and Ángel Zazo, Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Automation at the University of Salamanca
- Creating lasting impactful projects through Cultural Heritage and Wikimedia: Mahendra Mahey, Member of the Board of Directors of International GLAM Labs, research data analyst (Tallinn University), junior researcher (Estonian National Museum) and doctoral student (University of Strathclyde)
The conference confirmed something essential: when cultural heritage is structured as open data and connected globally, its reach, impact and transformative capacity multiply.
Material about the conference:
