GLAM/Newsletter/May 2021/Contents/Australia report

This Month in GLAM – Volume XI, Issue V, May 2021

Normal version • Single page version

Australia report

Librarians unite across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand for 1Lib1Ref

Contribute —

Librarians make Wikipedia a better place 1650 times over

Librarians and library professionals across Australia and New Zealand added 1650 new citations to Wikipedia in just three weeks.

For the first time, Wikimedia Australia partnered with Wikmedia Aotearoa New Zealand on a regional campaign, co-hosting six drop-in sessions over the three weeks of the campaign from 15 May until 6 June 2021.

Established in 2016, #1Lib1Ref imagines a world where every librarian and/or library professional added just one citation to Wikipedia. It’s now run twice per year.

Around 50 librarians attended the online sessions (as well a surprise drop-in flamenco guitar player and a child who showed us his toys) who were trained in the basics of Wikipedia and how to add a citation by Wikipedians Siobhan Leachman, Ann Reynolds, Kerry Raymond and Caddie Brain as well as Mike Dickison who facilitated an online LIANZA Webinar.

Additional live and online events were also held at the University of Melbourne, Yarra Plenty Regional Library, University of Newcastle Library, Charles Sturt University Library in Wagga Wagga and the State Library of Queensland. Congratulations to the staff for their work.

The final results are available here, as are the efforts of the State Library of Queensland and Yarra Plenty Regional Library.

Picture This!

Sydneysiders masked up and dug deep into Sydney's archives during City of Sydney’s recent ‘Picture This’ edit-a-thon at Darling Square Library.

Guided by City Historians Dr Lisa Murray and Laila Ellmoos and supported by Wikipedia editors Toby Hudson and Ann Reynolds, participants learnt to upload public domain images to Wikimedia Commons and then add them to Wikipedia pages on everything from Sydney mayors to Sydney suburbs.

The City archives holds materials from as early as 1842 when the Municipal Council of Sydney was established, with online access now available for over one million items.

The hybrid edit-a-thon featured editors in-person at the library as well as remote participants via video link. Despite the challenge of learning multiple platforms, the 20 or so participants added 43 images to Wikimedia Commons, editing 250 articles.

Next "Australia report" →

← Previous "Australia report"