Wikipedia:GLAM/State Library of New South Wales/Evaluation

Information about the planning and evaluation will be added to this page. For more information on the planning and evaluation of the project for the Library, talk to Aliaretiree (Project Leader) or Rubicon49bce (Project Officer).

Goals

In partnership with Wikimedia Australia (Wm-Au), the Library is working to add authoritative content to Wikipedia and to encourage other public libraries in New South Wales to do the same. The goal is to share the State's stories with the world along with information about its people and places. One aspect of the project included hosting the Wikipedian in Residence.

The two organisations have complementary goals:

For the State Library of New South Wales (SLNSW), engagement with Wikimedia Australia constituted one of a series of Innovation projects that aim to explore new ways of making the Library's collections more accessible and engaging with online communities.

For Wikimedia Australia (Wm-Au), the primary goal was to establish a sustainable partnership with the Library whose staff experts and collection are highly significant sources of reference material for articles and images related to Wikiproject Australia, Wikiproject New South Wales and Wikiproject Sydney.

Objectives

To achieve these goals, the partnership project and a pilot team of staff had the following objectives:

• train SLNSW staff to edit Wikipedia
• engage effectively with the Wikipedia community at large
• develop specialised Wikipedia editing procedures for newspaper entries that can be shared with other Australian libraries
• contribute images to the Wikimedia Commons
• determine suitable content for Wikipedia articles (eg. Indigenous material; Australia’s involvement in World War 1; convict women / convict artists; crossing of the Blue Mountains)
• create and/or develop articles relevant to the two organisation's goals of making Australia's material more available and accessible
• develop an ongoing relationship between SLNSW and Wm-Au
• evaluate the project and the activities of the working group.

Evaluation

Objective 1: Train SLNSW staff to edit Wikipedia

Objective 1: Outputs

• Two general staff training sessions
• Masterclass and additional training for working group of 14 staff members
• Support provided to other staff members through information sharing and individual coaching by Wikipedian in Residence
• Individual coaching and problem solving provided to working group members by Wikipedian in Residence
• 48 new articles created on Wikipedia during the working group
• 57 articles edited substantially on Wikipedia (minor edits not counted)

Objective 1: Outcomes

A cohort of library staff extending beyond the original project group have enough confidence, skill and interest to continue editing Wikipedia.

Objective 2: Engage effectively with the Wikipedia community at large

Objective 2: Outputs

• Staff user pages
• Two new relevant user boxes

Objective 2: Outcomes

• Staff engage with other Wikipedia editors via article and user talk pages
• Staff understand concepts of 'notability', 'verifiability' and 'conflict of interest'.

Objective 3: Develop procedures for newspaper entries that can be shared with other Australian libraries

Objective 3: Outputs

• List of newspapers published in New South Wales article expanded to include 2000+ titles and reformatted into sortable tables
• List of non-English-language newspapers in New South Wales article created
• Articles for more than 70 newspapers published in New South Wales created and/or edited by April 2013 (work is ongoing; for more information see the Newspaper Project page)
• Ongoing workflow for newspaper article creation by staff members created and published on the project page

Objective 3: Outcomes

• Parent and child newspaper articles and lists aligned with form and structure of similar Wikipedia groupings
• Procedures created and circulated with other Australian library stakeholders
• New workflow in use by library staff.

Objective 4: Contribute images to the Wikimedia Commons

Objective 4: Outputs

• PD-Australia images contributed to the Commons for all newspaper articles created
• Images of SLNSW collection objects contributed to the Commons using a template and OTRS procedures, and usage of these images tracked
• Three discrete Commons Categories for SLNSW images

Objective 4: Outcomes

• PD images from the Library's collection available for use in articles across all language Wikipedias.

Objective 5: Determine suitable content for Wikipedia articles

Objective 5: Outputs

• SLNSW article enhanced with factual information following extensive consultation with Library stakeholders and Wikipedian in Residence
• All articles created include appropriate references and links to SLNSW content where cited
• Articles identified and listed for future development.

Objective 5: Outcomes

• SLNSW capacity developed to continue contributing and improving articles related to the Library's collection
• Wikipedia work introduced into Library workflow and project planning.

Objective 6: Create and/or develop articles relevant to the two organisations' goals of making Australia's material more available and accessible

Objective 6: Outputs

• Project page
• The 1813 Crossing of the Blue Mountains article created by Library staff was nominated to “Did You Know” status on the front page of the encyclopedia (receiving 8,798 page views in eight hours on the day it was listed)
• Australian Aboriginal Sacred Sites article improved in connection with Wikipedia's Today's articles for improvement (TAFI) project.

Objective 6: Outcomes

• Priority content for future articles identified
• Indigenous Unit staff engaged

Objective 7: Develop an ongoing relationship between SLNSW and Wikimedia Australia

Objective 7: Outputs

• Editathons hosted by SLNSW (three planned editathons on World War I and one related to temporary exhibitions in the Library's AMAZE Gallery based on content from Blue Mountains historical collection material), including the dedicated contribution of SLNSW experts
• Presentation at Wikimedia in Higher Education 5 April 2013 at the University of Sydney
• Media release (20 May 2013) about the residency and project in general resulted in four radio interviews, including one with the State Librarian and Chief Executive, press coverage and the blog of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)

Objective 7: Outcomes

• Collaboration with other local Wikimedia activities such as the HE Symposium and Inside History magazine
• Library willingness and commitment to support and collaboration in editathons
• Engagement of Library curators and experts in backstage passes and editathons
• Greater public awareness of Wikipedia and Wikimedia Australia
• Acceptance of engagement with Wikimedia by senior SLNSW management.

Objective 8: Evaluate the project and the activities of the working group

Objective 8: Outputs

• Reports on Residency provided to Month in GLAM; Wikimedia-Au Committee and broader Wiki community; WMF Evaluation Workshop; SLNSW senior management
• Assessment of online engagement using Google analytics, Wiki metrics

Objective 8: Outcomes

• Enhanced understanding of program and project evaluation.

Benchmarking

• As a large cultural institution, the State Library of New South Wales chooses benchmarks from across the GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives and museums) sector seeking examples of best practice and good practice from around the world.
• The articles and editing projects undertaken by other large libraries and museums were given particular consideration including examples of library and museum articles in Wikipedia eg. Library of Congress, British Library, The Children's Museum of Indianapolis and the British Museum.