Wikipedia Is Now a Reference Librarian’s Job

Sarah Sherman instructs a group on editing Wikipedia.

The Getty Research Institute recently held its fourth Wikipedia edit-a-thon. The event was organized in collaboration with the Art+Feminism campaign, a collective of students, librarians, professors, artists, art workers, and art lovers who seek to increase the body of knowledge available on Wikipedia about women’s contributions to the arts.

Previous Getty edit-a-thons have focused on Los Angeles architecture, women in architecture, and women and technology.

Twenty participants received training in editing and Wikipedia best practices, then used these skills to complete new entries and add information to existing pages. Using Getty Vocabularies, these names have since been added to the ULAN (Union List of Artist Names) to aid research across scholarship in the humanities. You can browse—and add to—seven new pages created from the day’s worklist:

• Clare Abbott, a wildlife artist and illustrator
• Pam DeLuco, a textile and book artist
• Margaret De Patta, an experimental jewelry designer
• Maria Kipp, a textile designer and engineer
• Lee Manuel, a fiber artist and painter
• Polia Pillin, a ceramist
• Ellamarie Woolley, an enamel artist and muralist

The Getty’s edit-a-thons are organized by reference librarian Sarah Sherman, who has been an active editor since 2014. An advocate for open GLAM, she strongly believes that women and underrepresented groups should be better reflected within Wikipedia. She also considers leading Wikipedia edit-a-thons part of a twenty-first-century librarian’s job. “As a librarian, part of my job is to provide people with instruction to help navigate resources,” she says. “Training people how to use and contribute to Wikipedia is just another way to help people find and use resources.”

If you’re interested in becoming a Wikipedia editor or using Wikipedia as a teaching tool, Sarah recommends this tutorial, bookshelf, and instructions for educators as places to start. Art+Feminism has additional edit-a-thons planned around the world through September.