Wikipedia:GLAM/State Library of Western Australia

This project page co-ordinates activities to improve articles and images related to the State Library of Western Australia and the items in its collections. In partnership with Wikimedia Australia the Library is working to add authoritative content to Wikipedia and to encourage other public libraries in Western Australia to do the same. The goal is to share the State's stories with the world along with information about its people and places.

For more information on the Library's Wikipedia projects, talk to RenegadeStormie or Madradish. To ask a question about our collection or services, visit our Ask a Librarian page.

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GLAM/State Library of Western Australia (Western Australia)

State Library of Western Australia guidelines for editing Wikipedia

Wikipedia is different from most other social media channels used by the State Library of Western Australia. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, so it is a tertiary source that does not publish original information, that is, information for which no independent secondary source exists. Wikipedia contributors, including Library staff, do not own their contributions; contributions may be contested or changed. Wikipedia is a community-written encyclopedia and members of the public may write about Library objects or the Library itself.

These guidelines communicate the State Library’s expectations of staff engaging in editing Wikipedia articles and provide a public-facing explanation of the editing methodology of State Library staff, and also acknowledge that the institution is aware of and dealing with any potential conflicts of interest in (paid) staff editing.

The guidelines were based on the ones developed by the State Library of New South Wales for a similar project. The State Library of New South Wales used the draft United States National Archives WikiProject's internal guidelines as a template, both are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. These guidelines are published under the same license.

Policy statement

Creating and editing articles in Wikipedia is in line with the State Library of Western Australia’s mission of providing open access to contemporary and historical knowledge.

State Library staff participate in Wikipedia on an equal footing with all other editors by using individual rather than Library accounts.
Where State Library staff are contributing Library assets (e.g. digitised images of collection items that are in copyright, or photographs taken by the Library) to the Wikimedia Commons, they must have Library authorisation to release the specific files; use the appropriate license; and include the appropriate Library meta data. They must also confirm that the Library has the copyright permission to use images, and record the upload to the Wikimedia commons in the collection's corporate file.
State Library staff must disclose their affiliation with the Library on their user page before editing. Templates are available on the State Library’s Participants project page.
If State Library staff edit articles about the Library as an institution, other users may perceive a conflict of interest. Simple factual changes (e.g. personnel updates or outdated statistics) may likely be made without contention, but more substantial changes should be proposed first using discussion pages or other fora.
Additions to articles must be verifiable. This means that independent media or secondary sources should be cited whenever possible.
When editing articles, an impartial voice should be maintained. State Library staff must remember they are writing an encyclopedia, not speaking for the Library.
The State Library of Western Australia’s Social Media Policy and Code of Conduct applies to all State Library staff interactions with Wikipedia.

Target content

The Newspaper Project

The Library's Newspaper Project is writing and developing Wikipedia articles about current and historic Western Australian newspapers. It includes contributing to comprehensive list articles as well as articles on individual newspapers from the lists.

Library collections

The Library edits articles and topic areas related to its collections. These include:

Objects from the State Library of Western Australia's collection
Relevant references and links to digitised items from State Library of Western Australia's collections

Ongoing work on articles as part of the Wikipedia project at the State Library of Western Australia can be found at SLWA Ongoing Work.

Resources

Manual

The training manual developed by the Wikipedia:GLAM/SLQ helps participants continue to use their Wikipedia editing skills in their own time. Another potentially useful guide (with video) can be found at Wikipedia:GLAM/BeginnersGuide.

Evaluation

Information about the planning and evaluation will be added to the evaluation page.