LMU Librarians Add Credibility to Wikipedia

Wikipedia logoOver the past two weeks, librarians at the William H. Hannon Library have added more than 3,500 words to Wikipedia and edited no fewer than 49 articles. These edits have been viewed more than 532,000 times since January 15, 2018. That is the power of #1lib1ref.

For the past two years, librarians around the world have participated in a month-long Wikipedia project code-named #1lib1ref: one librarian, one reference. The goal of this global initiative, sponsored by The Wikipedia Library, is to “imagine a world where every librarian added one more reference to Wikipedia.” Not just any reference, but credible references. Wikipedia is a first stop for researchers (and almost anyone else searching for information online), so by adding credible sources to support its content, librarians can improve the reliability and trust of the world’s most popular and widely-read encyclopedia.

On January 19, fifteen librarians and library staff came together for a drop-in lunch to spend a couple hours adding new citations to Wikipedia. We added citations to articles about Eddie Murphy, mindfulness, a cappella, early Islamic philosophy, Octavia Butler, llamas, and more! We will be working to add more citations throughout the #1lib1ref campaign. You can track our progress on our Wikipedia dashboard. Of course, you don’t need to be a librarian to participate. Join us!