The University of Maryland Libraries WikiProject: Challenges and Delights University of Maryland Libraries Research and Innovative Practice Forum June 8th, 2023 Sarah Hovde, Jennifer Doherty, Rigby Philips, Beth Guay This work is licensed under the Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 UMD Libraries WikiProject: a brief overview Sarah Hovde What is Wikidata? ● free and open knowledge base of structured data ● can be expressed as linked open data ● useable by humans and machines ● editable by anyone! Why Wikidata? ● linked open data (LOD) platform ○ low-barrier intro - does not require knowledge of LOD principles ● "linking hub" that connects to many authority files/databases ● indexable by search engines ○ way to increase access to archival collections (and other library resources!) Planning phase: April-June 2020 ● some pre-2020 planning, but not pursued at the time ● preliminary searching and experimentation with list of archival collections ● preliminary searching - not many names on Wikidata yet! ● develop preliminary data models Training phase: June 2020 ● refine preliminary data models ● develop procedures and training ● hold introductory workshop ● invite project participants Active phase: July 2020 through summer 2021 ● focused first on Labor collections ● no quotas or deadlines ● participants set own pace ● active exploration and experimentation ● membership in PCC Wikidata Pilot Wrap-up phase: September 2021 - September 2022 ● editing slowdown in summer/fall 2021 ○ straightforward items completed, remaining items complicated ○ return to campus and hybrid work ○ office renovation ○ personnel turnover ● developed comprehensive approach to UMD-related corporate names Outcomes ● increased staff knowledge of Wikidata ● increased experience with linked data ● increased access to archival collections ● new opportunities within and without Libraries Future planning ● adding items for other collections ○ Historic Maryland Newspapers ○ World's Fair collection ● exploring batch processing options and intersections with other systems Wikidata: A Beginner’s Lessons Learned Jennifer Doherty LRIPF 2023 Benefits to the Libraries and Archive ● Increase accessibility to the Library’s unique and rare collections via local authority data ● Provide greater contextual information by linking local authority data to other national and international authority files ● Support broader social justice efforts by promoting access to the diverse and multicultural collections held within the archive Favorite Topics - History ● History - State of Maryland, University of Maryland and National ○ Many individuals who served the State going back to the earliest days of the colony ○ Many alumni, faculty and/or staff who provided materials documenting their time at UMD ○ Several individuals who were founders of the National Historic Preservation Trust and whose influence is still felt today in the realm of preservation ○ Including individuals who worked closely with the creation of the public broadcasting system and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting ○ Pioneering individuals in the realm of broadcasting Favorite Memories - Maryland State History ● Family History - Including many influential families from Maryland's past. ○ Weems-Reynolds Family Papers (http://hdl.handle.net/1903.1/1310) ○ Weems Family Papers (https://hdl.handle.net/1903.1/45232) ○ Cresap/Bruce Family Papers (http://hdl.handle.net/1903.1/1414) https://archives.lib.umd.edu/repositories/2/resources/1112 https://archives.lib.umd.edu/repositories/2/resources/1709 http://hdl.handle.net/1903.1/1414 Favorite Memories - UMD History ○ Ralph F. Davis (Q109289169) - UMD Alum and author of the University of Maryland Fight Song (Q109289313). ○ Ralph Lee Hornbake (Q109285939) - former Vice President, Dean and Professor of UMD Favorite Memories - U.S. History ○ WIlliam J. Murtagh (Q107542278) - visiting scholar at UMD, leading historic preservationist and first Keeper of the National Register. ○ Orin M. Bullock Jr. (Q104852253) - expert architectural restorer, he was one of the original team members on the Colonial Williamsburg restoration ○ Eleanor Tydings Ditzen (Q108895189) - co-founder of the Washington Hospital Center ○ Fran Harris Tuchman (Q99756670) - television pioneer and first woman to head a television division for a major advertising agency My Lessons Learned ● Don’t Panic - everything can be fixed. ● Good metadata is worth the research. ● When following breadcrumbs, make sure you leave a trail so you know how you got there (and can find it again!). ● Anything you learn from this record can be applied to the next, and there is always more to learn. Developing student newspaper properties and procedures in Wikidata Rigby Philips - LRIPF 2023 in Wikidata ● In August 2022, I added SCUA’s digitized student newspaper collection to Wikidata ● During this process, I developed a procedure for the creation of Wikidata items for newspapers under the UMD Libraries WikiProject ● Procedure includes both step-by-step instructions for the creation of Wikidata items and includes the core and recommended/optional Wikidata properties that editors should include for newspaper items ○ These procedures were especially meant to be useful for beginner editors and people unfamiliar with linked data https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_University_of_Maryland_Libraries/Newspaper_properties_and_procedure Basics ● The procedure includes three basic steps: ○ Core properties ○ Recommended properties ○ Identifiers ● A pre-written query is also included for your use Link to SIMPLE query that includes instance of: newspaper archives at: University of Maryland Libraries Properties that must be included in the item Core properties These are all CORE properties EXAMPLE: Properties that should be included in the item where applicable Recommended properties EXAMPLE: Recommended and optional properties for M.A.C. Weekly This property is especially important for us These properties are optional but useful for easily tracking related publications EXAMPLE (left): other identifiers in The Diamondback (Q7730092) Wikidata item Identifiers Identifiers are links and strings that can help users identify a newspaper and find instances of that newspaper in external databases and websites Using core and recommended properties to query Wikidata ● We can use the properties we added to each item to ask questions about our collections in Wikidata ● Let’s say we wanted a list of student newspapers at UMD and their intended audiences ● We could write a query to easily get that information in a spreadsheet format ○ We would just need to identify the properties that we’re looking for. ○ In this case, that’s ■ Instance of (P31) : college student newspapers and periodicals (Q106162750) ■ Archives at (P485) : University of Maryland Libraries (Q7895690) ■ Intended public (P2360) : ___________ (item is archived in UMD Libraries) Simple Query P31= Instance of Q106162750= college student newspapers and periodicals Return: table format Notice that they all contain “university student” as one audience, but many contain overlapping categories that are more specific to the individual newspaper. Takeaways ● Wikidata is easy to use, flexible, and well-suited to library uses ● The procedure for creating newspaper items can be tailored and re-used for other projects ● Querying is an easy(ish) way to ask questions about our collections ○ The more data we add to each item, the better questions we can ask and the more answers we can collect about patterns and gaps within the Wikiprojects and UMD collections Wikidata – It’s personal! Beth Guay, Continuing Resources Librarian, Cataloging and Metadata Services (CMS) ACRONYMS & TERMS DCM, or Descriptive Cataloging Manual, section Z1, name and series authority records. Prepared and published by the Library of Congress. GLAM community: galleries, libraries, archives and museums Library of Congress Name Authority File, or LC NAF NACO the Name Authority Cooperative Program of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging PCC Program for Cooperative Cataloging PechaKucha “a storytelling format in which a presenter shows 20 slides for 20 seconds of commentary each .. The PechaKucha format can be used, for example, in business presentations to clients or staff, as well as in education settings.” –Wikipedia, viewed May 28, 2023 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PechaKucha Share-VDE, or the “Share Virtual Discovery Environment,” developed by Casalini Libri, provider of bibliographic and authority data as member of the Program for Cooperative Cataloguing, and @Cult, provider of ILS, Discovery tools and Semantic web solutions for the cultural heritage sector. VIAF The Virtual International Authority File https://libraryjuiceacademy.com/certificate/xml-and-rdf-based-systems/ https://libraryjuiceacademy.com/certificate/xml-and-rdf-based-systems/ The UMD Libraries 2019 Environmental Scan as Told Through PechaKucha Presentations are available in the Libraries’ Intranet, under https://libi.lib.umd.edu/docs/search?query=2019+Environmental+Scan https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_PCC_Wikidata_Pilot#Background Wikidata Item for the Children’s Television Workshop as seen from the Reasonator. The Reasonator displays Wikidata item properties, relationships, related media, etc. in “human-readable” form https://reasonator.toolforge.org/?q=Q99741928&lang=en https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3480580 A link to the view of the Wikidata item on September 12, 2022: https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?title=Q113951559&oldid=1727096409 Reasonator view of the Maryland Agricultural College https://reasonator.toolforge.org/?q=Q113951559&lang=en Image source: Michele Casalini, 12 February 2021. “The future of bibliographic services in light of new concepts of authority control,” at the 2021 International Conference on Bibliographic Control in the Digital Ecosystem. https://www.casalini.it/archives/Casalini_BC2021_slides.pdf https://www.casalini.it/archives/Casalini_BC2021_slides.pdf https://pcc-lod.org/maryland-agricultural-college-a321658837282319/original-works-by https://pcc-lod.org/maryland-agricultural-college-a321658837282319/original-works-by Report of the Register of the Maryland Agricultural College to the Board of Trustees, https://archive.org/details/mdu-univarch-024209 (Internet Archive copy contributed by the University of Maryland) https://archive.org/details/mdu-univarch-024209 Sources: Descriptive Cataloging Manual Section Z1. https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/z1andlcguidelines.html AND Wikidata:Living people https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Living_people viewed June 1, 2023 https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/z1andlcguidelines.html https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Living_people Thank you! UMD Wikidata editors, stakeholders, supporters since 2020: Neil Frau-Cortes, Sarah Hovde, Joanne Archer, Ben Bradley, Liz Caringola, Audrey Chen, Jennifer Doherty, Hannah Frisch, Kathy Glennan, Beth Guay, Rebecca Hawk, Beth Iseminger, Alice LaSota, Emily Moore, Emery Patterson, Bria Parker, Rigby Philips, Steve Quintilian, Robin Reiss, Lisa Shiota, Marcella Stranieri. Want to learn more about Wikidata? Have a project idea? Let us know!