Collections Are For Use, but is Wikipedia the Outlet?

“Special collections are for use”—reminiscent of Ranganathan, this was the frequent refrain at a session on October 15 held jointly by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), “Building on Our Strengths: Opportunities for Special Collections in the Digital Age.”

The session centered on a keynote by G. Wayne Clough, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, about broadening access to and increasing engagement with the nation's historical artifacts through digital initiatives. During the Q&A afterward, Stephen Rhind-Tutt, president of Alexander Street Press, asked why pointers to digital collections aren't added to sites like Wikipedia, among the most-trafficked sites online. If the end of all collections is use, he wondered, then why aren't there more efforts to expose these to the public?

In response, Clough pointed out that part of a research institution's responsibility is curatorial and that these efforts make the collections “much more vital than just passively putting information out there.” Clough also observed that, in many cases, copyright and other restrictions prevent libraries and archives from using materials on sites like Wikipedia, which require content to be in the public domain or openly licensed.

Still, many institutions are exploring outreach, such as via the popular Flickr Commons project and on Wikipedia as well. These efforts aim at passive web users interacting with popular sites in contrast to projects like those of the Open Archives Initiative (OAI) and WorldCat Digital Collection Gateway, which are geared more toward active researchers specifically looking for digital collections.

Ann Lally, of the University of Washington (UW) Libraries, has recently completed a case study that determined that about five percent of the library's collection traffic comes via Wikipedia. In certain cases, up to 15 percent of the visitors to a Wikipedia article click through to a UW collection item.

Lally also pointed out that while in the past some librarians who added links to digital collections have clashed with Wikipedia moderators over “conflict of interest” edits, recent amendments to Wikipedia's editorial policies give librarians greater leeway to “make certain kinds of noncontroversial edits,” including “adding pointers to primary sources in archives, special collections, or libraries in the research resources section of an article.” UW is also exploring other avenues, Lally said, but nothing so far has paralleled the reach of content on Wikipedia. “We do have a Twitter account and a blog, but, to me, those efforts, while useful, are still more about people coming to you rather than you meeting them where they are, which is how I see Wikipedia,” she said.