The Wikipedia Library/1Lib1Ref/Coffee Kit

• Home
• Participate
• Host a virtual coffee hour
• Communicate and share
• Connect with us

• English
• Esperanto
• dansk
• español
• français
• galego
• italiano
• magyar
• polski
• português do Brasil
• suomi
• svenska
• Ελληνικά
• اردو
• العربية
• سنڌي
• नेपाली
• हिन्दी
• বাংলা
• 中文
• 日本語
• 한국어

Lets take a Coffee Break and contribute to #1lib1ref. Here's how!
Learn about how Wikipedia fits into the information ecosystem with a #1lib1ref Coffee Hour. Pull together a small gathering of your colleagues and learn how to contribute to Wikipedia for #1lib1ref. Participating in Wikipedia is easier when you can learn with others.

This guide is designed to help plan a 45-90 minute "coffee hour" workshop for #1lib1ref.

• Choose a date and time for the event
• Reserve a space and equipment if relevant (extra laptops and a projector are always useful)
• If you don’t have Wikipedia experience, you can reach out to find local Wikipedians who can assist. Ask for help at on the Wikipedia and Libraries Facebook Group
• Create a public announcement for your event and list it here
• Start to publicize your event among your colleagues

• Pull together editing and research resources
• Arrange refreshments if you want
• Prepare signage and handouts
• Send out event reminders
• Tweet about your plans using the #1lib1ref hashtag
• Important: There is a limit on the number of Wikipedia accounts that can be created from one location or IP address per day (normally 6). To get around this, you have several possibilities:
  • Ask participants to create accounts ahead of time (preferred method)
  • Have an account creator available
  • Request a temporary exception to this limit

• Welcome and introductions (2-3 minutes)
• Basics of editing Wikipedia (10-20 minutes)
  • Review the concepts of Verifiability and Reliable sourcing
  • How to create citations
  • Demonstrate adding a citation
  • Demonstrate using Citation Hunt
  • Note: Remember to demonstrate adding #1lib1ref to the edit summary
  • Note: It's much easier if you have a citation prepared ahead of time to contribute
• Open editing (20-30 minutes)
  • If possible, have experienced editors circulate to answer questions and troubleshoot problems. Otherwise, be ready to learn together as a group or partner-up for editing help
• [Optional] Open discussion (15-30 minutes)
  • How does Wikipedia interact with the library profession?
  • Could you imagine teaching your patrons about Wikipedia? How can we teach other skills with Wikipedia, such as digital or information literacy?
  • What different kinds of knowledge does Wikipedia try to share?
  • What are the misunderstandings that library patrons likely have about Wikipedia? What could help patrons better understand research in the context of Wikipedia?
  • What were the easiest parts of adding references to Wikipedia? What was challenging? How could the challenging parts be made easier?
  • What kinds of topics appear to be missing or underrepresented? How could you add knowledge relevant to your work and communities of practice?
• Wrap-up (2-3 minutes)

• Please take pictures of the event, and share them on social media using the hashtag #1lib1ref.
• Share the #1lib1ref hashtag, and a link to 1lib1ref.org during the event and on your materials.

• Record outcomes as much as possible: how many attendees, how many articles edited, etc. Outcomes help make the case for funding, future activities, and are a great way to share with others what you did and why your work mattered!
• Make sure to share what you did social media under the hashtag #1lib1ref and at the events page. Social media and the events page provide the main ways we are tracking the event and help organizers report outcomes.
• If you publish a blog post, or see coverage of your event in other venues, please share the link at on the #1lib1ref Press page
• If the event created interest among your colleagues, consider planning more editing events around your institution's collections. An editathons is an editing event focused on a certain theme or topic. Learn more on how to run editathons.