The African Librarians Week (#AfLibWk) 2025

Theme: Library catalogues, linked data and Wikimedia projects: 1 citation, 1 resource made visible makes a difference!

The African Librarians Week (#AfLibWk) is an annual event organized in May by the African Library and Information Associations and Institutions (AfLIA). AfLibWk is an integral part of the global 1Lib1Ref (one librarian, one reference) campaign by the Wikimedia movement. Since 2020, AfLibWk has been working to:

• raise awareness about the role of African libraries and librarians in the 21st century knowledge ecosystem, 
• lead African librarians to sharpen their digital skills through collaborative editing of articles and items on WIkipedia, WIkidata and other Wikimedia platforms as may be chosen,
• address gaps about Africa on Wikipedia, Wikidata and other Wikimedia platforms by adding reliable citations thus ensuring that accurate and current information about Africa is available to a global audience.

This year’s theme seeks to highlight the connections between the catalogues (physical and online) of libraries of all types, linked data and the role of Wikimedia projects in highlighting and boosting the visibility of African authors and their outputs.

Join us on Monday, 5th May at 10.30am GMT for the launch of this year’s AfLibWk.

It may be possible that you do not have an account yet on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia Projects and you do not understand how to join the dashboard? We have you covered. A training session on account creation, joining the dashboard and basic steps to editing Wikipedia by adding citations where they are needed would be held on Thursday, 8th May by 10.30am GMT

Also, you may not be very sure about editing Wikidata or you never had the opportunity to learn how to. No worries! Join us on 14th and 15th May by 10.30am GMT each day as we dig into how our library catalogues are rich sources for linked data and how they can be added to Wikidata to promote the visibility of African knowledge.