Page:The Wikipedia Library-The largest encyclopedia needs a digital library and we are building it By Jake Orlowitz.pdf/11

11 :Subscription​ ​access​ ​is​ ​a​ ​must​ ​for​ ​Persian​ ​Wikipedia​ ​editors,​ ​not​ ​just​ ​due​ ​to​ ​the​ ​lack​ ​of reliable​ ​sources​ ​in​ ​Iran​ ​or​ ​Afghanistan,​ ​but​ ​because​ ​of​ ​the​ ​systematic​ ​bias​ ​and​ ​censorship that​ ​is​ ​so​ ​prevalent​ ​among​ ​books​ ​published​ ​in​ ​these​ ​countries.​ ​I​ ​even​ ​consider​ ​the Wikipedia​ ​Library​ ​a​ ​helpful​ ​project​ ​to​ ​counter​ ​the​ ​systemic​ ​bias​ ​in​ ​English​ ​Wikipedia itself.​ ​While​ ​every​ ​river​ ​or​ ​hill​ ​in​ ​North​ ​America​ ​or​ ​Europe​ ​has​ ​its​ ​own​ ​article,​ ​many​ ​vital issues​ ​concerning​ ​developing​ ​countries​ ​have​ ​not​ ​been​ ​covered.​ ​By​ ​getting​ ​global​ ​editors like​ ​me​ ​free​ ​access​ ​to​ ​rich​ ​digital​ ​libraries,​ ​we​ ​will​ ​be​ ​even​ ​more​ ​encouraged​ ​to​ ​write decent​ ​articles​ ​about​ ​our​ ​culture​ ​and​ ​geography​ ​in​ ​your​ ​language."9

Serving​ ​individual​ ​editors,​ ​"arming​ ​them​ ​with​ ​reliable​ ​sources",​ ​has​ ​long​ ​been​ ​an​ ​aspiration​ ​for The​ ​Wikipedia​ ​Library.​ ​This​ ​partnership​ ​model​ ​has​ ​grown​ ​to​ ​nearly​ ​70​ ​publishers​ ​and aggregators—including​ ​EBSCO,​ ​SAGE,​ ​Taylor​ ​&​ ​Francis,​ ​Elsevier,​ ​Oxford​ ​University​ ​Press, and​ ​Project​ ​MUSE—providing​ ​access​ ​to​ ​over​ ​80,000​ ​unique​ ​periodicals​ ​and​ ​a​ ​greater​ ​number​ ​of books,​ ​to​ ​thousands​ ​of​ ​editors​ ​for​ ​a​ ​year​ ​per​ ​partner​ ​per​ ​signup.

The​ ​standard​ ​distribution​ ​process​ ​for​ ​this​ ​access​ ​has​ ​not​ ​been​ ​elegant.​ ​It​ ​has​ ​required​ ​editors​ ​to apply​ ​individually​ ​for​ ​each​ ​partnership​ ​they​ ​want​ ​access​ ​to,​ ​for​ ​applications​ ​to​ ​be​ ​vetted​ ​against account​ ​activity​ ​and​ ​experience​ ​criteria,​ ​to​ ​be​ ​approved​ ​and​ ​processed​ ​individually​ ​by​ ​dozens​ ​of coordinators,​ ​and​ ​for​ ​per-editor​ ​access​ ​codes​ ​to​ ​be​ ​delivered​ ​or​ ​accounts​ ​created​ ​by​ ​the​ ​publisher such​ ​that​ ​they​ ​expire​ ​one​ ​year​ ​after​ ​activation.​ ​This​ ​time-consuming​ ​process​ ​involved unnecessary​ ​duplication​ ​of​ ​effort​ ​and​ ​inefficiency​ ​in​ ​workflows,​ ​resulting​ ​in​ ​a​ ​multi-week​ ​wait between​ ​application​ ​and​ ​receipt​ ​of​ ​access.​ ​While​ ​this​ ​is​ ​certainly​ ​better​ ​than​ ​no​ ​access​ ​at​ ​all,​ ​we recognised​ ​quickly​ ​that​ ​there​ ​was​ ​obvious​ ​scope​ ​for​ ​improvement.

In​ ​an​ ​effort​ ​to​ ​solve​ ​these​ ​problems,​ ​TWL​ ​is​ ​currently​ ​developing​ ​a​ ​Wikipedia​ ​Library​ ​Card platform (https://wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org/​)​ ​to​ ​streamline​ ​application​ ​processes​ ​for​ ​database access​ ​and​ ​to​ ​deliver​ ​an​ ​access​ ​experience​ ​more​ ​similar​ ​to​ ​that​ ​of​ ​research​ ​libraries.​ ​It​ ​provides​ ​a