The Wikipedia Library/Publishers
The Wikipedia Library
The Wikipedia Library[edit]
The Wikipedia Library is a collection of reliable sources made available to experienced Wikipedia editors. The library supports editors research for Wikipedia and allows them to add citations to material they otherwise wouldn’t have access to. The project is run by The Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organization which runs Wikipedia and its sister projects. Over nearly 10 years the project has partnered with more than 75 organisations to bring free knowledge to the world.
The library’s collection is assembled through partnerships with publishers, aggregators, and other organisations hosting paywalled content online. Partnering with The Wikipedia Library means getting your resources in front of Wikipedia’s editing community, and increasing their usage and visibility on a top 10 most-viewed website.
In addition to supporting one of the largest free knowledge projects online, a partnership with The Wikipedia Library results in more references to and visibility of your content on Wikipedia, which in turn increases traffic to your website from Wikipedia’s readers.
Partnerships[edit]
Wikipedia is written by a global volunteer editing community. Articles must cite reliable sources of information, making them a compilation of secondary sources on a subject. Readers are encouraged to use Wikipedia to get an overview of a topic, and then delve into the references to learn more. We want to make sure those references are comprehensive and reliable.
While some editors have access to a library locally or through an institution, a significant number don’t have ready access to the reliable sources they need to do research for Wikipedia. 65% of editors say that paywalls are a problem for them when doing research on Wikipedia. We’re connecting our most active editors with publishers of reliable information to ensure that the encyclopedia is as reliable and well connected to the broader knowledge ecosystem as possible.
As a Wikipedia Library partner, you will be directly supporting bringing free knowledge to the world. Additionally, you will be getting your resources in front of active editors doing research. This can result in substantially more citations to your content in highly read Wikipedia articles, each of which includes a link to your website.
Each month Wikipedia Library users add thousands of additional links to partner websites on Wikipedia. Those articles are read by millions of people around the world and directly result in higher traffic to partner websites. Of all citations with links to participating publishers’ websites, approximately 25% are added by users of The Wikipedia Library, who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to use those resources.
Additional links added to Wikipedia directly correlates with increased website traffic. Early data from participating publishers showed that participating in The Wikipedia Library program directly correlated with increased referrals from Wikipedia’s 500 million monthly readers.
In addition, we are happy to work on publicity around these partnerships, including blog posts and social media. Past examples of publicity include a spotlight of Newspapers.com’s resources and new partnership announcements.
To date, we have formed more than 75 partnerships with leading publishers and aggregators, including EBSCO, Gale, Oxford University Press, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, and ProQuest. These partnerships have been running for many years and are highly valued by the editing community.
How does it work?[edit]
If you’re interested in learning more about partnering with The Wikipedia Library we encourage you to get in touch with us to schedule a call. We can be reached at wikipedialibrary
wikimedia.org. Alternatively, more information can be found below.
Joining The Wikipedia Library program can be quick and easy, typically following these steps:
- Decide on which collections will be made available
- Confirm access method for users - we support IP-based authentication via EZProxy as the preferred method
- Sign a Memorandum of Understanding outlining the partnership (Optional)
- We add you to our platform and make announcements!
If we’re using a lightweight access method like EZProxy or pregenerated access codes then no ongoing work is required from your end - we handle all user authorizations from our end.
To access the library an editor must be an established and active part of the community - you can’t simply register a free Wikipedia account and begin accessing it. Our Library Card platform checks that users meet our minimum eligibility threshold (500+ edits, 6+ months activity) of Wikipedia activity and only allows an editor to access your content if that threshold is met.
We then provide you with access to a metrics portal where you can track how many users are using and citing your content on Wikipedia.
FAQ[edit]
We don’t support IP-based authentication (or EZProxy), can we still participate?
Yes! While IP-based access is preferred, we support a wide range of access methods including access codes, pre-generated login details, and individual account setups. We’re happy to discuss what works for you.
Do editors add copyrighted material to Wikipedia?
No - Wikipedia’s community takes copyright very seriously and copyrighted material added to the projects is quickly removed. The Wikipedia Library is used for research; editors summarise and cite content from sources but don’t copy and paste.
How many users will be accessing our content?
This depends on exactly how we provide access to your resources. We typically see around 500 users per month using the library on Wikipedia, across all of our available partnerships. Usage of any particular resource is variable and something we could provide ongoing data on during the partnership.
Contact us[edit]
Please reach out to us at any time:
Sam Walton
swaltonwikimedia.org
or at our general email:
wikipedialibrarywikimedia.org