Contribute to Wikipedia’s #1Lib1Ref Effort With Citation Hunt

From January 15th to January 23rd of 2016, Wikipedia is running their first ever One Librarian, One Reference (#1Lib1Ref) campaign as part of their 15th anniversary celebration. Through this campaign, they are asking librarians worldwide to commit to adding at least one reference to Wikipedia. Though some libraries are hosting events to encourage participation, individuals can make an impact as easily as adding a single citation to an unsupported contention in a Wikipedia article.

To make this even easier, Guilherme P. Gonçalves has created a new tool called Citation Hunt. This tool highlights statements in need of citations in a simple and somewhat addictive manner. As soon as you navigate to the Citation Hunt page, you will be presented with a Wikipedia sentence in need of a citation. These are pulled from every place on Wikipedia that currently has a “Citation Needed” note linked to it. The page will display the name of (and a link to) the Wikipedia article where the un-cited statement resides and a block quote of a sentence or two surrounding the “Citation Needed” note. You can then select from two buttons. Either click “I got this!” to be taken to the Wikipedia article to add a citation, or click the “Nope, next!” button to be given another statement in need of a citation. If you want to concentrate on your personal interests or strengths, you can also filter by categories using a drop down menu just below these buttons. Finally, the page also includes a link to Wikipedia’s help information for those who are new to adding citations to Wikipedia articles. All in all, the Citation Hunt is minimalist, easy to use, and very intuitive. And, it will make it easy and fun to add information to Wikipedia.

If you are interested in contributing to the #1Lib1Ref campaign or just want to make more contributions to Wikipedia, Citation Hunt is a great tool to try. You can read more about the campaign and other people’s experiences with #1Lib1Ref on ACRL TechConnect and the DLF Blog. I hope you enjoy both Citation Hunt and adding new citations to Wikipedia!