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Wikisource Conference 2025/Submissions/The Wikisource to public library pipeline: from scans to lendable eBooks

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  • Title of proposal:The Wikisource to public library pipeline: from scans to lendable eBooks:
  • Description: From 2020–2022 I was a digital librarian in the Westland District Library, a small public library system based in Hokitika, New Zealand. I began a project scanning locally-published history and literature books that were too rare to lend to patrons. These were mostly public domain, but we also negotiated with one author for them to release under an open Creative Commons licence. I then trained library volunteers and Wikipedians to edit Wikisource and proofread and validate dozens of books. A small grant from the Mātātuhi Foundation and COVID-19 support funding enabled us to extend the project and pay a library assistant part-time to scan more books from other collections. We discovered that exported EPUB files could be manually uploaded to the library’s eBook catalogue and, just like any other eBook, made available for loan using the app Libby. Libby is powered by OverDrive, a US-based company that works with 92,000 libraries in 115 countries. In New Zealand, library systems organise eBook lending in regional OverDrive consortia, so once Wikisource EPUBs were loaded into the Westland District Library system they were available for loan, and were being borrowed, throughout the South Island. These eBook loans far exceeded the loans of the physical books, increasing the impact and accessibility of the collection with very little work from librarians. I have since started a similar project with a larger public library in Christchurch, New Zealand.
  • Relationship to Wikisource or to the theme:As far as I am aware, this is the first time that Wikisource project has partnered with a public library to make transcribed works available to ordinary library patrons. This pipeline could be applied to any library system that uses OverDrive.
  • Username of speaker(s): Mike Dickison (User:Giantflightlessbirds)
  • Session type: Lecture (slides)
  • Duration: 30 minutes
  • Outcomes: I will walk attendees through the process step by step, explaining how we recruited, trained, supported, and rewarded a network of volunteers, and convinced a public library that this was a worthwhile partnership. I will also supply a project checklist and a step by step guide that a library manager could use to manually upload completed works for lending. I hope to collaborate with and support any attendee who is keen to try a similar initiative in their home country.
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