Free Training on “Wikipedia and Libraries!” at OCLC, WebJunction Course Catalog

It consists of 6 live online sessions (1:00-2:30 pm Eastern Time, on the following Wednesdays; Sept. 13, 20, 27, Oct. 11, 25 & Nov 15), online discussion forums, reading and activities where participants will gain the skills and knowledge needed to evaluate, edit and contribute to English-language Wikipedia and to plan Wikipedia events for their community members, including:

• Learning about the inner workings of English-language Wikipedia—understanding how the online encyclopedia is built by volunteer editors in an open and transparent environment.
• Understanding Wikipedia’s quality criteria and applying your own critical eye; helping others (patrons, colleagues) learn to evaluate quality and reliability.
• Learning the many different ways to contribute and help build this quality information source.
• Adding Wikipedia (and information literacy) to existing library programming and patron (and staff) training (Tech help, GED prep, ESL, etc.).
• Creating Wikipedia-centered programming (edit-a-thons, topic-specific groups (e.g. local history) that contribute articles in subject areas of interest, etc.) that engages community members.

As a result of participating, public library staff will be able to use Wikipedia to:

• Engage and empower their community members to build information literacy skills and to access and create knowledge
• Raise the visibilityof their libraries and their unique, local collections
• Build on their own digital, critical thinking, and community engagement skills—and encourage their colleagues to do the same

Course work is expected to require a time commitment averaging 3-5 hours per week. This include the, 90 minute live online sessions, independent readings, online discussion forums, and activities between sessions.

Instructors

Primary instructors are Betha Gutsche, WebJunction Program Manager and Monika Sengul-Jones, Wikipedian-in-Residence, OCLC. There will also be library practitioner guest speakers during each live session, and a mix of library practitioners and and Wikipedians answering questions in the forums.

How to Enroll

1. Log in to your free Course Catalog account. If you do not already have an account, you can create one from that same page.
2. Get an enrollment key for the course by completing this short survey.
3. Once you complete the survey, you will get the enrollment key and instructions.
4. Enter the key in the text box at the bottom of this page. If you don’t see the text box, click on the course title at the top of the page first.