and in the availability of reliable secondary sources that provide a basis for interpretation.1 In some cases, digital collections were reserved for future collaboration given their potential to perpetuate harm to user communities in the absence of adequate historical understanding and relational work.2
The Discovery and Early Development of Insulin Collection was chosen as the focus of the WIR pilot for three reasons: It was deemed to be “Wikipedia-friendly”; it was likely to be of broad public interest given the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin (2021–2022); and it was considered a premiere collection given its inscription into the UNESCO Memory of the World register (The Discovery of Insulin and Its Worldwide Impact | United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, n.d.). Over the course of the pilot, the WIR verified Wikipedia’s existing content on the topic, updating and adding citations as appropriate. They also added comprehensive articles and sections on notable but unwritten histories adjacent to the collection, including the history of diabetes and institutions such as the Connaught Laboratories and the Academy of Medicine of Toronto.3 Some of these contributions have since played a crucial role in public discourse. In late November 2020, the Connaught Laboratories article came to public attention in the context of COVID-19 response shortcomings, “vaccine nationalism,” and damage to Canadian vaccine production capacity suffered as the result of the Labs’ privatization in the 1980s. Page views increased 500 to 1,000-fold as the Wikipedia article was shared widely.
In addition to edits based on the Discovery of Insulin collection, the WIR also provided community guidance on Wikipedia-related matters, facilitated events, and developed editing and event hosting toolkits for broader use.4 Regular analytics assessments have demonstrated sustained increases in UTL’s digital collection usage, as well as increasing correlation between Google search traffic and traffic to the Discovery of Insulin collection. At the time of writing (November2020), UTL’s digital collection usage has increased—in comparison to the average for the year-long period before Wikipedia contributions—by a multiplier of 4.87 in earlier months (with only external links) to 9.35 (after more research-intensive contributions) in linked
