Mairelys Lemus-Rojas

Bringing Wikipedia to IUPUI University Library: #1lib1ref Participation

A good Wikipedia article is one that contains citations to reliable sources so that readers can verify the information and find even more information related to that topic. Many Wikipedia articles, however, are missing a needed citation. For that reason, the Wikipedia Library came up with an initiative last year in an effort to bridge the citation gap. They launched the #1lib1ref campaign in January 15, 2016, which coincided with Wikipedia’s 15th birthday. The idea behind this global campaign was to encourage every librarian to provide Wikipedia with the gift of one citation to an article in need.1 The success of this initiative motivated the Wikipedia Library to host this event again in 2017 where a noticeable increase in participation was recorded. There was also an increase in the number of Wikipedia workshops and sessions held at libraries across the globe in order to provide new editors with the necessary tools to undertake the task of adding citations to the online encyclopedia. 2 Reflecting the library’s strong interest in supporting free access to quality information, IUPUI University Library was one of the institutions that participated in this effort.