«Wikipedia loves libraries»: a reciprocal love in Italy...

Abstract

As part of the GLAM projects, the Wikipedia community has launched the Wikipedia Loves Libraries campaign aiming to connect Wikipedia with the world of libraries, archives and OA. In the last couple of years events were carried out, workshops, conferences and training courses were organized, agreements were signed and projects – which also involve the cataloguing and authority control field – were developed. ICCU (Central Institute for Union Catalogue) has enhanced the use of the National Library Service (SBN) authority records by increasing the Italian involvement in the VIAF (Virtual International Authority File) and its connection to Wikipedia entries. The National Central Library of Florence has activated links between the Nuovo Soggettario Thesaurus and Wikipedia, and since May 2013 Wikimedia Italia promoted the implementation of interlinking, thus carrying out the first prototype of interoperability between Wikipedia and a multidisciplinary subject indexing tool produced by libraries. The BNCF is also testing the use of Wikidata to improve the links to the Library of Congress subject headings, and to extend the collaboration to the Project Wikisource.
Everything suggests that Italian libraries can begin to acquire the same open, creative and collaborative attitude that's sustaining Wikipedia.