Wikimedia Australia’s partnership with Alice Springs Public Library, adding an image collection to Wikimedia Commons[edit]

Abstract/description[edit]

In December of 2023 Wikimedia Australia partnered with Alice Springs Public Library, a small public library in a remote part of Australia, to add one of their image collections to Wikimedia Commons using Pattypan software.

The Alice Springs Public Library has a collection of more than 2,500 images, called the Central Australian Historic Images Collection, which consists of a number of smaller collections under this banner. These images were only available to access on site at the library through an intranet system. Knowing this Wikimedia Australia reached out to them to ask if we could add one of these collections to Wikimedia Commons as a test case and provide training materials and training opportunities to them so that they can upload further images. In doing so other organisations in the region may be encouraged by their success and wish to partner with WIkimedia, apply for our support grants or undertake this sort of work themselves.

Many of the images in these collections contain images of First Nations Australians (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples) and they have been assessed by the Traditional Owners and Elders as to what images can be included and excluded from being shared. This work was completed before the partnership with Wikimedia Australia.

The Donald and Isabel Dowling Collection was chosen as it contains many images showing Alice Springs, and other parts of Central Australia, during World War II. It was additionally selected as it contained limited First Nations content and contained only one image that needed to be excluded; some captions were altered to remove terms that are now considered to be offensive.

NOTE: This project is still ongoing with the upload being prepared. By the time of the conference it will have been completed and there will be early stats about usage and follow ons from the project.

Relationship to ESEAP or to the theme[edit]

This project shows how Wikimedia can collaborate with small libraries and cultural institutions to enrich both and make content more widely available to more people. Making content open access and available online is also an important preservation tool which helps ensure Australian history is not lost.

Username/s[edit]

Session type[edit]

Lightning talk

Duration[edit]

15 minutes

Session outcomes[edit]

To look at how small partnerships can lead to increased awareness and training around Wikimedia Platforms and how easy it is to contribute.

These images will also add valuable content to our platforms and will be embedded with relevant Wikipedia articles.