Dear Intrepid Wikipedians …
Hello. For me, 2015 seems to be dominated by Libraries … I have been part of the mLiteracy
Think Tank recently, and then there was GLAM WIKI where Libraries featured prominently.
The importance of Libraries to us - as community activators across Africa - has been
niggling away at me. And, the outcome of the niggling is that we should all seriously
think about partnering our usergroups / chapters / fledgling communities with a local
library or library service.
Hear me out.
Why?
1. Many - especially the flagship ones - have a digitisation programme of some sort.
2. They are the guardians of the very citable knowledge that we want to see about Africa
and our countries on Wikipedia
3. They are busy, but are mandated to share that knowledge
4. They attract natural wikipedias - people who are hungry for knowledge - in large
numbers
5. They are often looking for programmes to run with after school activities, and might
have ICT support.
They should be included in our outreach strategies, and not just in our GLAM dreams.
How do we find out about them … ?
Mylee Josephs - who was at GLAM WIKI in the Netherlands in April sent me this information.
AFRICA-L
Africa Section <http://www.ifla.org/africa> mailing list. The aim of the list is to
facilitate communication with library community within the African continent. The
objective of the Section amongst other things, seeks to promote and strengthen Library
Associations, the Profession and Library/ Information Services in Africa; The Section
seeks to create and maintain links with other Sections of International Federation of
Library Associations (IFLA) as well as related bodies/ organizations for the benefit of
the profession and services in Africa.
Submissions: africa-l(a)infoserv.inist.fr <mailto:africa-l@infoserv.inist.fr>
Web interface <http://infoserv.inist.fr/wwsympa.fcgi/info/africa-l>
Administrator: Joyce Myeza <mailto:joycemyeza@gmail.com> and Nthabiseng Kotsokoane
<mailto:nthabiseng.kotsokoane@monash.edu>
Note: AFRICA-L is a closed list (restricted to subscribers). Anyone interested in the
goals and activities of Africa Section may apply to join.
What do you think?
warmest
Isla
Isla Haddow-Flood
Project Manager
WikiAfrica <http://www.wikiafrica.net/> at the Africa Centre
<http://www.africacentre.net/>
tel: +27 21 418 3336
skype: islahaddow
twitter: @wikiafrica
get started:
wikiafrica.net/toolkits
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Islahaddow
