Wikipedia:GLAM/NLS/15thMonth Report

Institution Resident's Name Period Covered Date of Report
National Library of Scotland Ally Crockford 08 November - 04 December (Fifteenth month of residency) 12 January 2015 (publication delayed by holidays)

Projects delivered edit

Metrics edit

Accounts Created
  • 7 accounts created as part of a training workshop held for Skills for the Future Trainees based at the NGS/NLS on 19 November:
Image statistics

Tracking the 1,100 images uploaded to Wikimedia Commons using the GWToolset in June/July 2014 has yielded the following statistics:

BaGLAMa (page views for Wikipedia articles containing images from National Library of Scotland)
  • April 2014 - 996,420 views
  • May 2014 - 932,959 views
  • June 2014 - 1,354,381 views
  • July 2014 - 1,328,133 views
  • August 2014 - 1,982,546 views
  • September 2014 - 1,504,452 views
  • October 2014 - 1,503,300 views
  • November 2014 - data forthcoming
Glamorous (Percentage of Commons files used on Wikimedia projects from the category commons:Category:Images uploaded as part of NLS-WMUK collaboration)
  • July 2014 - 6.6%
  • August 2014 - 8.12%
  • September 2014 - 8.93%
  • October 2014 (as of 15 October) - 9.03%
  • November 2014 (as of 15 November) - 9.29%
  • December 2014 (as of 04 December) - 10.21%

Objectives and outcomes edit

National Library of Scotland's Mission Wikimedia UK's Mission
Enrich lives and communities.
Encourage and promote lifelong learning, research, and scholarship.
Provide universal access to information by comprehensively collecting and making available the recorded knowledge of Scotland.
Promote access to the ideas and cultures of the world.
To help people and organisations build and preserve open knowledge, to share and use freely.

Outreach edit

Objective: Delivery of 3+ public workshops for editors (i.e. edit-a-thons); help organise and host other Wikimedia related events for members of the public, Wikimedians, researchers and librarians such as workshops, Edit-athons, meetups, backstage pass tours

15th Month Outcomes:
  • The proposal for funds to run a week of edit-a-thon events in February 2015 as part of the University of Edinburgh's Innovative Learning Week, submitted in collaboration with staff across several departments and schools in the University of Edinburgh and the University Library, was successful
  • An organisation meeting was held on 3 December to outline a schedule and discuss practicalities and involvement going forward, with a follow-up planned for 16 January
  • Work organising planned outreach projects - a Gaelic language Wikipedia/Wikisource outreach, and a international symposium exploring IPR and digital access - has continued
  • Gaelic language outreach would involve releasing hundreds of digitised texts in Gaelic or about Gaelic language and culture to Wikimedia Commons and liaising with Scottish educational institutions that have strong Gaelic education programmes to facilitate their transcription and possible translation on Wikisource
  • Symposium would be an attempt to bring together representatives from GLAMs in the EU, UK, and potentially further abroad to discuss their different perspectives of and experiences with IPR, digital content, and facilitating access (open access or otherwise)
  • Ran a workshop for the Skills for the Future trainees based in part at National Galleries Scotland and in part at the National Library of Scotland on 19 November; 6 trainees and the programme manager created new accounts and underwent training for Wikipedia editing as part of the 3 hour workshop. The workshop also included a presentation on the benefits of disseminating GLAM content via Wikimedia platforms

Upcoming events edit

Known or Prospective Date Event Name or Description Host or Partner Organisation Scope of event or talk
January/February 2015 Wikimedia Information Session Grampian Information, Aberdeen A follow on from the Grampian Information Annual Conference in December, the planned presentation at the Grampian Information AGM in June has been postponed; a rescheduled event is likely to take place in the autumn.
January/February 2015 Wikipedia Training Capture session (by User:ACrockford) Jisc Scotland, CILIPS MmIT?; Scottish government? Following from the Jisc 'Tales of a Wikimedian in Residence' webinar, Adobe capture would be used to provide a simple but thorough introduction to contributing to Wikipedia for Librarians and FE/HE educators. This would be released under CC-BY-SA license and uploaded to Commons, and also made available by Jisc as a wider learning resource for educators.
February 16-20 2015 Women Writers Innovative Learning Week edit-a-thon University of Edinburgh An edit-a-thon to take place during the University of Edinburgh's Innovative Learning Week, focusing on the theme of Women Writers
Spring 2015 Jisc Rsc Scotland editathon New Jisc Rsc Scotland Offices Jisc Scotland are anticipating a move of house in the near future (date TBC), and have offered up their new offices as a venue for an editathon once they have settled. Topic yet to be determined.
Undetermined date Datafest Scotland 2014 Alwyn Williams Building (School of Computing Science) and Boyd Orr Building, University of Glasgow, Scotland Wikimedia volunteers will be on hand to organise a tutorial on editing Wikipedia

Internal impact edit

Objective: Organise and host workshops for Library staff to explain how they can directly contribute their knowledge and expertise to develop Wikipedia articles; deliver 7+ workshops for National Library of Scotland staff and researchers or related institutions; develop infrastructure for sustainable partnership between NLS and WMUK after residency ends

15th Month Outcomes:
  • Note: After some members of staff at the NLS raised concerns regarding the release of content onto a CC-0 license on a mass scale, uploads were put on hold to allow for internal conversations regarding the releasing of digital content onto open licenses. Internal events - workshops and seminars - are under way to encourage discussion and reach a consensus
  • Organisation for an internal seminar at the NLS on access to digitised public domain content online continued, with confirmation of a chair as well as a scribe, and the outline of a structure for the event. Information will be gathered in advance of the seminar which is currently set for early February 2015
  • Delivered two short introductory sessions on the use of Wikimedia projects at the NLS and in libraries generally for the ELISA Open Forum - 'The Risks and Rewards of Using Social Media', 3 December, for Edinburgh-based librarians and information professionals

Contributor communities edit

Objective: Help establish relationships with the Scottish Wikimedia community, editors and projects

15th Month Outcomes:
  • Underwent Train the Trainers programme in Edinburgh 1-2 November, and made contact with trainers based in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen as well as Wikimedians in Ireland
  • Scottish trainers have been in touch with Daria regarding a potential programme of training for Scottish educators in 2015
  • Attended the WMUK Volunteer Gathering in Birmingham, 29 November to discuss improving and sustaining volunteer engagement in the UK

Material for future digitisation edit

Objective: Explore adding digital resources such as digitised books, articles, photographs and posters to Wikimedia Commons; work with staff, including librarians and curators, to identify areas of Wikipedia and sister projects that could be enriched with resources and knowledge from the Library’s collections

15th Month Outcomes:
After some members of staff at the NLS raised concerns regarding the release of content onto a CC-0 license on a mass scale, uploads have put on hold for the time being. Conversations regarding the Library's implementation of the Metadata and Digital Content Licensing Policy (approved Spring 2014) are ongoing
  • Once the Library has reached an internal consensus and uploading resumes, the schedule outlined in earlier reports will generally be followed. This content will include:


On Holiday from 05 December 2014 to 12 January 2015. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!