Librarians, Wikipedia and the Gender Divide

Although this topic was popular a few months back, it still holds true that only a fraction of women contribute by editing pages on Wikipedia.org, the world’s largest and most used encyclopedia.

Freakonomics Radio, The Daily Dot, Mashable, and various blogs explored why the gender divide remains within this virtual community. There have been several suggestions as to why the gender gap exists, despite Wikipedia users being evenly split between men and women. Some proposed the editing process of Wikipedia is too abrasive and non collaborative. Others suggest it is due to the male bias in the technology field. Some offered that women were simply not interested in being editors.

Despite the actual reason(s) why this is true, I find it problematic that one of the world’s most used websites is staunchly dominated by one type of person.

Infographic taken from
Mashable.com

And the issue of Wikipedia’s gender divide has come to up once again in the internet community. Accusations of institutional sexism have arisen due to edits made on the American Novelists’ page. The page, over time, has been edited to reflect a division of gender; consequently, there are now two lists for American Novelists. The original list, and one list for women novelists, which is listed as the original’s subcategory.

I’m not sure why Wikipedia editors feel the need to separate the two. Despite the intent of these editors, women, in this context, have been labeled as “other”.

Would this have happened if the editors were equal in terms of gender? Would this have even been an issue if more than 9% of women were editors? No one can say for sure.

So how do we alleviate the gender gap and improve Wikipedia in terms of content and representation? Librarians. Especially those who aspire to be library & information school professionals.

It is no secret our profession is dominated by women (more specifically white women). While this is problematic in of itself, I think this fact, in this instance, can improve Wikipedia’s issue of an editorial gender gap.

While attaining my MS(LIS)/MSIS, I worked on various portions of the ipl2 as part of the school curriculum. Across a variety of library and information system classes, I acted as a reference librarian, evaluated both its content and its adherence to human computer interaction standards, cleaned up its metadata, etc. And while I think the ipl2 may be of use for some folks as an information repository, I am unsure of the site’s longevity and purpose, aside from being the guinea pig of Drexel’s iSchool students.

I propose that Drexel as well as other library schools make it part of their curriculum for students to contribute to Wikipedia, both as editors and writers. Perhaps professors can follow the lead of Chanita Bishop, and become Wikipedia Ambassadors.

The obvious benefit to adding this type of assignment is that it helps students improve their research skills. Another benefit is acquired confidence with participating and contributing within internet communities. Most importantly, it will help improve the gender divide amongst Wikipedia editors. 

My Experience at SLA Chicago

This blog post was originally published on the Philadelphia SLA Chapter website, then reformatted for the DUSLA blog, and has now made its way here. It has been edited to reflect my current status as a library professional.

I know it's a bit late to share my experiences of SLA's 2012 annual conference, considering SLA 2013 is right around the corner, but I figured I would re-post it here anyway. If you are a current or recently graduated library student, I want to reinforce the importance of participating in association activities. Not only do they help you create and grow your career, it propels the field of information services forward.   Consider becoming more active in your local SLA (or library) association. You won't regret it.

My dear friend Allison De Weerd and I were the lucky recipients of the 2012 Knower Fund, an annual scholarship program managed by the Philadelphia Chapter of the SLA, for the purpose of attending the annual conference. And I am so grateful to have had the opportunity. Lucky for us, the 2012 conference was held in the great city of Chicago. 

Allison and I

I met a lot of great people, ranging in expertise, experience and career choice at the conference. I credit this experience to the broadening of my own career aspirations. Furthermore, it was a great supplement for the lack of discussion concerning special libraries in the classroom. Traditional (and current) library curriculum tend to focus on public and academic librarianship with little discourse offered beyond these career paths.

As I met more and more attendees, I was in awe of how many career options existed in the the realm of librarianship. For example, I met a librarian who works for a well known non profit, focusing on women's healthcare. I also encountered folks who work as information analysts for the military and professionals who are client services manages for academic publishers. These were options I had not considered previously, and would have looked over due to my lack of awareness. It was important for me to meet people within these types of professional roles. One take away was the term "librarian" was not the end all be all of my pending career. 

SLA Chicago conference instilled a confidence in my career path (and subsequently myself) I had not experienced prior to attendance. Part of this newly found assurance was due to the exposure of possible career opportunities; however, most of it was due to the acceptance of this vast library community.  Everyone I met was interested and vested, in my success as an information professional. At every networking event someone offered to look over my resume, gave me valuable advice or wanted to establish a long lasting professional relationship. I would have never understood the value in professional community had I not attended this marvelous event. 

On a boat tour of Chicago. 

I am determined to continue my participation within the SLA community and plan to attend future conferences. I now truly understand the value of this association. It propels the library & information profession forward. I hope in the near future, I will be in a position to help library students find their footing and to pay forward the generosity that has been bestowed upon me. 

I want to extend my gratitude to the Philadelphia Chapter for busting their bums year after year to ensure students have this great opportunity.