Conclusion
In recent years, the love-hate relationship that teachers and researchers had with Wikipedia is changing for the better. More and more academics see the benefits of Wikipedia, Wikidata, and other Wikimedia project websites. With the collaborations and projects described in this chapter, Maastricht University Library has contributed to a better understanding of how Wikipedia and Wikidata can be deployed within an academic context and what the advantages are for students and others interested in contributing. Maastricht University Library serves as an inspiring example for other teaching librarians in the Netherlands. In the years to come, the library will continue its collaboration with Wikimedia Nederland as part of the Wikipedia Education Program, for the three courses described above, and for new courses with a focus on legal history, medical history, and the history of science. Furthermore, Maastricht University Library aims to provide better access to its collections by optimizing object registrations in line with innovative developments based on linked, open-access data. The library has recently started a pilot project to link its Golden Age of Illustration data to Wikidata. These courses, projects, and initiatives are in line with the library’s long-term ambition to contribute to building an extensive digital infrastructure in the form of a sustainable distributed digital network, based on linked (open) data.
Note
1 ECTS is an abbreviation for European Credit Transfer System. One ECTS is equal to twenty-eight hours of study.
References
Excellence Education. (2020). Maastricht University. Retrieved September 29 from https://edlab.nl/excellence/.
FASOS Marble Spring. (2020). Wikipedia. Retrieved September 29 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Benelux_Education_Program/Maastricht_University#See_also.
