All you need to know about the #AfLibWk & #1Lib1Ref campaign

From 24th to 30th May 2020, the first African Librarians Week, #AfLibWk takes place! Library and information professionals across Africa will be adding accurate and reliable sources to articles on Wikipedia. The week-long virtual event is being championed by AfLIA as part of the global #1Lib1Ref campaign, an annual event launched by the Wikimedia Foundation and aims to invite librarians around the world to add sources to Wikipedia. Wikipedia, the world’s free online encyclopedia that’s created, edited, and verified by people around the world, is an important source of fact-based knowledge for researchers and the public. Let us walk you through the key highlights of the event and how you can participate.

What is #AfLibWk?

The African Librarians Week is a new outreach initiative organized to build awareness of and fix gaps in online knowledge about Africa and its people and stories. The event is a great opportunity for African people to tell their stories, as they can truly capture the nuances of their own cultures, languages, heroes/heroines, philosophies of life, discoveries, innovations, pop culture and more. It is organized by AfLIA in partnership with the Wikimedia Foundation as part of the global #1Lib1Ref campaign.

What exactly will African Librarians do during #AfLibWk?

From 24-30 May 2020, library and information professional across Africa will update Wikipedia articles about Africa and African scholars in all disciplines with reliable citations / references. The result will be credible content about Africa on Wikipedia for the benefit of global readers. Librarians are custodians of information and key players in knowledge creation and dissemination as such, are uniquely positioned to take on this all-important task.

How can I participate in #AfLibWk?

Participation involves 8 steps but one must sign-up first. The sign-up process is in 3 simple steps. Start by completing the sign-up form here. Afterwards, you will need to create a Wikipedia User Account, if you do not have one already. Lastly you need to connect your Wikipedia Account to the AfLibWk Dashboard in order to be recognized as part of the Wikipedia editors participating in #AfLibWk.  Find more details about how to participate here.

Who can participate?

All library and information professionals from National Libraries, Academic and Special Libraries, Public and Community Libraries, School Libraries as well as LIS institutions in Africa are eligible and invited to come on board as we improve the narrative of Africa and African scholars in Wikipedia.

Why should I participate?

Knowledge about Africa is unfortunately underrepresented on Wikipedia. This means that access to African voices, cultures, philosophies and other information that are worthy of being open and integrated into the global body of knowledge is woefully limited. Participating in this campaign means;

1. Contributing to the creation of reliable content on Africa on Wikipedia for the benefit of global readers and
2. Helping to ensure the world can continue to learn from Africa’s rich history, culture, and people on Wikipedia
3. Helping to highlight the role of librarians across Africa in providing access to knowledge.
4. Helping to make Wikipedia, an important source of fact-based knowledge for people around the world, more reliable and useful.

Any benefits?  

Nothing comes close to the sense of pride in knowing that you are part of a dedicated network of African Wikipedian editors helping to improve the relevance, accuracy, reliability of articles about Africa hosted on the online encyclopaedia. The skills and experiences obtained from the practical training sessions and participation will stay useful in your professional career for life. Further, all participating editors get to broaden their professional networks as they will be connected to the event’s Champions and Volunteers via existing country-based #AfLibWk WhatsApp platforms.  Please send a mail to afliacomm@aflia.net if you are participating but have not yet being added to your local AfLibWk WhatsApp group.

Further;

1. The top 50 participating librarians will be recognized and awarded certificates.
2. The top 5 contributors will receive prizes during the 2021 AfLIA Conference in Accra.
3. The African country with the most number of editors on the AfLibWk Dashboard will receive a plaque.
4. The African country with the most edits/references added will also receive a plaque.
5. A plaque will also be awarded to the country with the most innovative publicity about the African Librarians Week on social media.

I missed all the trainings. What do I do?

Never mind, there a a number of resources put together to guide and train you on how to make edits and add citations to articles on Wikipedia. Visit the resources section on the AfLibWk webpage to access presentation slides, tutorial images, gifs and videos. Also uploaded on our Youtube Channel are recordings of some of our practical training sessions capturing everything necessary to help you participate successfully. Also, you can contact us to connect you to a country representative who will guide and bring you up to speed. Send a mail to afliacomm@aflia.net.

For more information, visit this page: here