Can I have access my favorite niche publisher through the Wikipedia Library?
A: Typically, the core Wikipedia Library team focuses on getting access to larger, multi-purpose databases, containing a wide range of sources that we think could be used by dozens of Wikipedia editors. Thus, if editors ask for publishers that might be used by only a couple of Wikipedia editors, we will either a) look for an aggregator like WP:EBSCO, WP:JSTOR or WP:Gale which has collected those works in a larger database or b) we ask editors to reach out directly to these smaller publishers using our Partner Pitch Process. We have found that smaller organizations have less organizational barriers to participating in our program and that, most of the time, even volunteers not experienced in Wikimedia outreach can work with them to create a partnership. If you do decide to reach out to a partner, feel free to cc swaltonwikimedia.org in any correspondence with partners. Once the partnership has been started, we are happy to list the resource in our partner databases.
@Nathan121212: Is there an organization with larger holdings that publishes or gives access to the Gazette alongside other works? We try to get access to resources that would impact a wide range of users. In the past partnerships from small publishers don't have the kind of impact across Wikipedia and our user base as other ones do. We will certainly try contacting them, but are wondering if there is another route for access/contact that might be more fruitful, Sadads (talk) 16:59, 11 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
@Sadads: Not that I am aware of. A Google search brings nothing new up. According to its website, Greengazette give access to Gazettes from all nine of South Africa's provincial government as well as legal notices and patent journals. Thanks for giving this a look. Nathan121212 (talk) 18:53, 11 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
@Nathan121212: Cool beans. We probably won't look into this for another month or two: we have a ton of tasks right now that need to be finished up before we start too many more new partnerships, Sadads (talk) 18:56, 11 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
@Nathan121212 and Nikkimaria: actually that is one of the few items that they share that is not included in that donation: however, I got the contact information for someone who might be able to give us that access. I hope to have some more information soon, Astinson (WMF) (talk) 20:06, 17 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
@WeijiBaikeBianji and PAR: We spoke to IEEE at Frankfurt Book Fair last year and they seemed interested. I've just started that conversation with them again; I'll update here if there are any developments. Sam Walton (talk) 15:53, 4 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Genealogybank.com - I think this would be hugely helpful for editors involved in local research for things like country estates and small rural communities and to trace ownership and family lines.♦ Dr. Blofeld16:49, 11 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Support for same reason as ThaddeusB, and for local history research per nom, but not for "tracing ownership and family lines", which sounds like what WP:NOR tells us not to get into. — SMcCandlish ☺☏¢ ≽ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ≼ 01:58, 21 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Support, I have access and use it frequently for its newspaper database. It compliments the newspapers.com quite well with only a little overlap. Smmurphy(Talk)14:19, 13 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]
If they want an example of an article we could probably improve with their data, William A. Spinks is a likely suspect. Virtually his entire second career as an oilman, as well as his early history (before winning the Pacific Coast Billiards Championship), including his educational background, are all a mystery at this point, but local newspapers and other documents might well elucidate. — SMcCandlish ☺☏¢ ≽ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ≼ 10:08, 10 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
No worries @Dr. Blofeld: we always want feedback on what we are missing, and what is particularly useful. We can make assumptions based on our experience, but you never know, Sadads (talk) 17:28, 11 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
@Apwoolrich: Thats a really interesting idea. It seems to be mostly designed for public libraries to join. But I wonder if we could support Wikimedia UK in getting vpn-like access to the project: would help us focus our other partnerships away from British editors.... I will look into it, Sadads (talk) 14:27, 27 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
I can access and search the site from home, using my library card's number, but I cannot get beyond reading summaries of the articles. Apwoolrich (talk) 06:33, 28 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Hi @Apwoolrich: I tried several rounds of pinging: no response. If you would be interested in taking the lead on pitching a partnership with, especially because it is such a regional platform/tool, I would be very much interested in giving you the tools/help. And/or we could involve Wikimedia UK, in that process, Astinson (WMF) (talk) 17:11, 13 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, please. All the databases I have access to so far have a notable paucity of veterinary sources. If this has 8,000 journals, I think that could fill some of that gap. — SMcCandlish ☺☏¢ ≽ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ≼ 02:00, 21 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I'd like to be able to access Soil Use and Management. Many people think of soil as unimportant but we get almost all our food from soil, it's the biggest carbon store after rocks and oceans, and yet soil is being lost and damaged, so this is an important journal.Rowan Adams (talk) 12:29, 11 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
That's great! Just drop me a note if something develops. I'm going out of town next week for a conference (May 26–30), so hopefully I won't be too late on any sign-ups. – Maky« talk »23:37, 21 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
@Maky: Sorry for not having it sooner: we expected the conversation to move quicker than it is. We already have most of the partners lined up for a late July/early August release, and we expect Wiley to be among them. Sorry for building up hopes. In the meantime, we just announced both Science magazine and WP:Taylor & Francis's biology collection which should help for your topical area; also, we have more accounts for WP:RSUK. Astinson (WMF) (talk) 19:20, 18 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]
@Samwalton9: Am checking in on this now two months later— I'd really like to be able to access this database, and am finding that many of the search terms I use are showing up in it (most recently my search for more info on the extraembryonic membranes of a certain parasitoid wasp). Am hoping you can tell me there has been progress (?). Thanks! KDS4444 (talk) 19:58, 18 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Westlaw and Lexis databases for U.S. court decisions. Huge area of low-hanging fruit for improving our articles on federally reported cases; huge collab opportunity with law schools, hugely important subject matter when knowledge of the law = justice, but said knowledge is locked behind a paywall. ⇒SWATJesterShoot Blues, Tell VileRat!01:51, 18 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
As an alternative, Bloomberg Law would be nice: they have BNA products (good summaries of legal concepts), legal news sources, as well as the usual case reporters. —/Mendaliv/2¢/Δ's/ 05:33, 18 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Hey @Mendaliv and Swatjester: we just opened up access WP:HeinOnline which includes a bunch of academic journals around law. Hopefully that is a good medium term solution: I am looking into Lexis and Westlaw in my next big outreach push. We have tried to contact Lexis before, but haven't found a good path. Sadads (talk) 22:40, 4 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
At least Lexis/Nexis and maybe also Westlaw gave an account to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (also a 501(c)(3)) back when I worked there. So, definitely worth pursuing. And, yes, they are exceptionally useful for legal research. Lexis/Nexis has pre-Shepardized materials (maybe Westlaw does, too), which is basically precedent-tracking research done for us. I.e., not original research, which is very easy to engage in by accident when trying to figure out case law in common law systems, which in turn is something that has to be done one way or another to make sense of many legal and public policy subjects. Better this be done by a source we can cite! — SMcCandlish ☺☏¢ ≽ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ≼ 01:55, 21 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]
@Astinson (WMF): I looked through and it has an impressive collection of journals, but it lacks the real meat of what a researcher needs -- the legal encyclopedias (American Jurisprudence and Corpus Juris Secundum), 50-state case law databases (which will be essentially non-existent outside Westlaw/Lexis), and the major, most well-known treatises (Nimmer on Copyright, Farnsworth on Contracts, McCarthy on Trademarks, etc.) or the various Restatements of the Law. Journals are great, but much of what they do is give me one particular law professor or student's opinion on some likely esoteric matter, as opposed to a substantive statement at a glance on what the differences are between jurisdictions on a particular area of law, and where to look to find the most relevant citations. So, if I want to improve articles on U.S. diplomacy from a legal standpoint, I'm better off with the Restatement (Third) of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States, rather than the International Law Review. ⇒SWATJesterShoot Blues, Tell VileRat!06:01, 23 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
As a policy analyst (among other things), I concur strongly. The 50-state DBs were crucial when I was doing that sort of work, and our current state of the 'pedia in this regard on most subjects it utterly awful. It tends to look like: In New York, a statute [citation here] says Foo. Alaska has a similar law.[citation needed] The Maryland state assembly was considering something like this in 2009. [the end]. — SMcCandlish ☺☏¢ ≽ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ≼ 17:04, 2 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]
I endorse this wholeheartedly, even to the extent that I think the Wikipedia Foundation should purchase access. Although there are many free sources for case text, Lexis-Nexis offers the ability to “Shepardize” cases to see if they are still “good law,” and Westlaw offers a similar capability. An encyclopædia article on any court case would be incomplete at best unless it is “Shepardized” to see, at a minimum, if the case is still “good law” or if, on the other hand, the outcome has subsequently been reversed. In a paper encyclopædia the omission of this step is excusable, but electronic encyclopædias such as Wikipedia should really offer the advantage of being up-to-date. This need is made particularly acute since both publishers have ended individual, credit-card-based access, and are offering their databases only to firms (companies and law firms) and institutions (libraries and schools) on a subscription basis. I used to use the credit-card based service, whereas the cost of an individual subscription is prohibitive (unless you are a lawyer, in which case failure to verify that cases relied-on are up-to-date may constitute legal malpractice.) And you only need to subscribe either to Lexis or to Westlaw, not pay for both.
I agree with SMcCandlish and anonymous IP. Lexis and Westlaw are prohibitively expensive for individuals. Consequently many editors who edit legal or law-related articles do not have access to these exceptionally helpful databases. - Mark D Worthen PsyD(talk)03:24, 29 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]
LexisNexis is best known for its law databases, but they have great access to newspapers in the LexisNexis Academic database, including papers from the US (national, regional, and local), Canada, and Britain. I fill a good number of WP:RX requests with papers from this database. ~ Rob13Talk17:52, 11 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Regarded as the newspaper of record in the United States. Pre-1923 material is up for free download as pdfs, but material 1/1/23 onward is paywalled. Carrite (talk) 19:30, 2 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]
This would be very useful for copyright clean-up. I have just used the last of my ten free looks for the month of May. -- Diannaa (talk) 14:14, 15 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
@Carrite and Diannaa: We have tried to get access to the NYT archives through multiple routes, but no success yet. Eventually... in the meantime, we have had a lot of success with other newspaper archives, and have 2-3 more in the pipeline, and WP:Newspapers.com has plenty of accounts, Astinson (WMF) (talk) 19:23, 18 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Some of its content is available through search engines, but after a certain number in a month access is denied without a subscription. As one of the United States' newspapers of record, its back issues are a valuable resource. Eddie Blick (talk) 21:28, 8 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
@Teblick: We have repeatedly approached the Times, and have repeatedly gotten a firm no. Unlike newspaper databases, Newspapers like the times are not vying for visibility and discovery for researchers: they already have a fairly extensive reputation and visibility. Astinson (WMF) (talk) 18:09, 3 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Still, it's very disappointing that NYT don't see how beneficial it would be in terms of knowledge. I'm sure eventually they'll relent.♦ Dr. Blofeld21:53, 11 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
@Carrite, Diannaa, and Teblick: We just launched access to ProQuest, through which you will now be able to access all current and archival New York Times content. This doesn't give you access to the NY Times website itself, but you can take a headline and search for it in ProQuest to get access to the full text. ProQuest is part of the new Library Bundle, which means if you meet our automatically-checked account criteria you can access ProQuest right away. Head over to https://wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org/ and log in - if you see that you meet the Bundle eligibility criteria, you'll be able to access ProQuest through My Library right away. Please let me know if you have any questions or feedback on the process. Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 08:28, 9 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Teblick: Great! Please let me know how you find using ProQuest to access NYT. We're interested to know if we should still try to get access to the New York Times website directly, or if access via these databases is sufficient. Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 08:43, 17 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Samwalton9 (WMF):, I will do that. I used it only briefly last night, but I liked what I saw. I was curious about how to cite articles. I assume that (in addition to the obvious title, date, etc.) I should put "|via = ProQuest" in the citation. Should I also add a parameter about access being available through the WP Library? Eddie Blick (talk) 12:53, 17 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
via=Proquest can be helpful but we don't require that or any note of the Wikipedia Library. Feel free to simply follow standard citing procedures :) Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 13:45, 17 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
My (US) local library offers a free basic subscription to The New York Times website to all library patrons. The subscription is a one-day subscription, but it can be used over and over. If you have a good public library system, you might ask them if they have a similar program. WhatamIdoing (talk) 21:07, 16 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
This is just a follow-up "Thank you!" for providing access to NYT archives via ProQuest. I have used the service often to add information to articles, and I greatly appreciate the efforts of those who are responsible enabling access to the archives. Eddie Blick (talk) 23:59, 27 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I've used Factiva in the past to catch tons of stuff that has fallen through those databases' cracks. Not sure how much that has to do with package access, but something to consider nonetheless – czar06:56, 19 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) publishes a wide range of documents, some of which are freely available and some of which are only available to ITU members. It would be good if Wikipedia editors had access to the full range of ITU publications. Examples of or lists of ITU publications for which access would be useful:
Covering print books published in England between 1473 and 1700, this database shows and allows searching of full scans of original English books: good for tracking down what happened, say, in a first edition of Milton. Covers literature, yes, but also history, religion, politics, philosophy, and many other areas. Link: [1] --Akhenaten0 (talk) 19:30, 7 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
@Akhenaten0: We started talks with them last year, but the team that was helping us, seems to have lost track of this request: I probably will restart the converstaion over the summer. Astinson (WMF) (talk) 15:54, 21 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Did you ever get a chance to follow up further on this, and, if so, was any progress made? If not; time for a new attempt perhaps? --Xover (talk) 05:00, 7 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]
@Xover and Akhenaten0: Sorry for not updating: this was last summer. The contacts we had for this conversation disappeared, and we have had trouble finding a successful path into Proquest: they simply seem a bit too big, and not to have a clear way to create this partnership. I am now working on WP:GLAM, but @Samwalton9: is now coordinating our partner outreach efforts, and may try to start that relationship. We also should see Proquest representatives at the International Federation of Library Associations Congress next week, I will make sure to visit their booth and see if we can find another contact. Astinson (WMF) (talk) 13:53, 8 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]
An addendum just to illustrate; of the second edition, also printed in 1591, there are 5 copies known to exist. Of the first edition there are two. --Xover (talk) 09:09, 21 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]
With Reaxys you can search Beilstein (Organic), Gmelin (Inorganic and organometallic) and Patent Chemistry databases. Reaxys' search, analysis, and workflow tools are designed around the needs and common tasks of users, including a synthesis planner to design the optimum synthesis route and multistep reactions to identify precursor reactions underlying synthesis of target compounds. Users can filter search results by key properties, synthesis yield, or other ranking criteria. Would be very useful for chemistry articles! Link: [2]Thepcmaniac (talk) 12:20, 10 May 2015 (EEST)
@Thepcmaniac: We are still in the pilot phase with Elsevier's current donation (WP:Elsevier) Hopefully we will be able to expand the donation when we next talk to them; I can ask about this particular source. How many editor's do you expect would use this for citations? Who would it be useful for? Astinson (WMF) (talk) 19:34, 18 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]
@Apwoolrich:We are happy to support donations of access from university libraries: the Wikipedia Visiting Scholars model (outlined at Wikipedia:Visiting_Scholars/Sponsor) has been very successful with our pilot research universities in the states. These kinds of partnerships tend to work best with someone on the ground doing the outreach, but we have a WIR now! @MartinPoulter: Do you think we could get some type of remote access partnership? We could advise on developing some-type of partnerships similar to what we have been doing with other Uni-libraries. I have been encouraging the dutch to see if they can do something similar with one of their libraries, and it sounds like they might be able to get bulk donations of accounts (something on the scale of 50 or 100 research accounts). Astinson (WMF) (talk) 19:20, 14 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the ping. I have been promoting the Wikipedia Library in my outreach work and I will explore the possibility of this at the Bodleian. I can't promise anything and I don't know what regulations are involved, but I will make the case. @Apwoolrich: my case will be helped if I have specific examples of articles that users would want to improve. MartinPoulter (talk) 19:50, 16 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
@MartinPoulter: Has there been any interest in library-access for Wikipedia editors? We heard that Koninklijke Bibliotheek in the Netherlands gave out ~50 accounts one time to their databases, for one year periods during an editathon. Most of the limitations for research libraries are tied to the types of, and Universities like Oxford have really good frameworks for Visiting Scholar/Student positions that define the kinds of access available. Astinson (WMF) (talk) 13:22, 24 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Just dropping a note here to keep the request alive. Access to the Bodleian and Ashmolean collections would still be very useful on many literature-related subjects. These holdings are, of course, primary source material, so it would typically be for scans of title pages of works to illustrate an article on that work or its author, or to check stuff like formats, page counts, printers/publishers, and so forth. Or for a scan-backed transcription onto Wikisource. I'm sure there are other uses, but this is what I usually want it for. (and, no, visiting scholar would probably not be an option for me, though I'm sure for others it might be a better option). --Xover (talk) 08:38, 21 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]
@Xover: Do you have a sense of how many editors would need to use it? We have connections at JHU press so might be able to negotiate access for editors. If its mostly for your own purposes, you are also welcome to pitch the editors yourself: Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Library/Processes/Pitching_partners. In my experience, bibliographies are hard to use, unless you are a very experienced researcher with a strong inter-library loan connection. You could also try to create a Visiting Scholar relationship if you think it will be just you (see the outline of the program at Wikipedia:Visiting Scholars). In doing so, you might get even more access than the bibliography. Astinson (WMF) (talk) 19:48, 17 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
@Astinson: Hmm. As the Shakespeare WikiProject is rather under-staffed I suspect we're talking on the order of a handful of editors, with perhaps some stray editors from other areas (e.g. Opera, Theatre, Film, Painters, etc.) that may find it of use. And, as you suggest, a bibliography is not a perfect match for the Library program since it doesn't in itself give editors access to the sources (a downside for the editors) and thus editors won't have cause to link to it rather than JSTOR or wherever (a downside for the providers of the resource, here JHU/WSB). I was thinking of it more in terms of "What other resource would be a valuable tool for me" rather than its fit for the Library. However, I am also a poor fit for either pitching a partner directly or a visiting scholar arrangement (I just can't commit predictable amounts of time to Wikipedia and a potential partner's area). So I think the conclusion is that the World Shakespeare Bibliography must sink to the end of the Library's todo list (somewhere after "Solving world hunger" and "Bring about peace on earth"), and if pitched it will most likely have to be more of purely charitable donation to the project rather than a straight up win—win pitch. Oh well. Thanks for looking into it, and keep up the great work (everyone): it is very much appreciated! --Xover (talk) 05:54, 19 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
@Xover: The time commitment for Visiting Scholars doesn't have to be huge, and your to do list on your user page, seems sufficiently substantial, to make a pitch for library support. We also have WP:OUP, which includes several Shakespeare bibliographies, so would be useful as well. @Ryan (Wiki Ed): would be the person to talk to if you are interested in that kind of support: we may even try to make it a joint appoint with one or two other Shakespeare editors. Astinson (WMF) (talk) 13:17, 24 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I have made numerous contributions to Wikipedia from having NewsBank access to newspaper articles from the past several decades at one college library whose librarians thought the students would use it a lot. The resource was too expensive. I am very limited now since the nearest library where I can use it is a few miles farther away. — Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 20:16, 23 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
@Vchimpanzee: I am in a really good conversation with them, they want to donate, but organizationally weren't ready to a few months ago. I am imagining we will see a donation in the next 3-6 months. Astinson (WMF) (talk) 13:01, 24 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
@Vchimpanzee: I was very disapointed as well: I am trying another route for getting access to Newsbank's global historical newspapers (http://www.readex.com/content/world-newspaper-archive ). They are developed by the Center for Research Libraries, so we might be able to get a license from them directly. That covers the most glaring topical gaps we have in newspapers, though there are still certain newspapers and periodicals that we can't get, unfortunately. I will keep working on these and other outreach targets. Astinson (WMF) (talk) 18:24, 4 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I would definitely like if subscriptions to Newsbank were available. There has been requests on the RX for newspaper articles that only Newsbank could fulfill based on the year coverage that Gale did not covered for me. --MrLinkinPark333 (talk) 19:10, 24 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]
@Froztbyte: Have you considered taking this up with the local Wikimedia chapter in Denmark? I'm sure the The Wikipedia Library project can provide support and a framework, but I imagine that approaching these organisations is likely to both be smoother and more successful if done by someone local. --Xover (talk) 03:21, 9 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
As is true with the New York Times, some content is available through search engines, but after hitting a limit, availability ceases. It has much valuable material for those of us who write and edit articles about people and events in the United States in the 20th century. Eddie Blick (talk) 21:31, 8 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Is a Dutch magazine for the shipping, fishing and off shore industries. I plan to contact hem myself, with the help of WMF-nl. One question: at Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Library/Publishers, the section How it works: "Throughout the process we send you quarterly reports about the number of links to your content on Wikipedia and how that changes over time." Can and should I do that myself, and if yes: how? The publisher is here, some 25 more magazines, but all in Dutch. Regards, Sander1453 (talk) 09:17, 22 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
@Sander1453: Looks great! Sorry for not responding sooner, I seem to have missed your message. You can see our outreach strategy at Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Library/Processes/Pitching_partners. If you cc' me during the email outreach astinsonwikimedia.org, I can help listen to the conversation (even if the outreach is in Dutch), and provide advice if you run into any problems. Once the donation is secured, we can work them into our link metrics quite quickly.Astinson (WMF) (talk) 17:16, 4 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks Astinson. Unfortunately, I mailed them October 27th, but never got any response. But I'll remember this the next time I'm trying to convince a publisher to do business this way. Thanks, Sander1453 (talk) 22:47, 4 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]
I was going through the RX and found a few requested resources that could be found here. This publishing house has "books (print and electronic) and journals and series in the Earth and environmental sciences (geology, mineralogy, paleontology), biosciences (plant sciences, zoology, phycology), aquatic ecology and human biology." This would be helpful for the RX in locating science articles --MrLinkinPark333 (talk) 19:32, 24 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I stumbled upon this site while helping out at the RX. This is another publisher that has access to journal articles and books. Here's the link. This site focuses primarily on humanities subjects --MrLinkinPark333 (talk) 21:16, 3 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Brepols is a very important publisher indeed. Whenever I write on art history or linguistics, for example, papers that came out in journals only available from Brepols are a major stumbling block. Adding them to the Wikipedia Library would be a great catch. Primaler (talk) 17:34, 21 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
I know that the Wikipedia Library has access to SAGE Stats, but not to the full Sage journals website. It would be helpful locating journal articles. They have journals on Health sciences, life & biomedical sciences, materials sciences and engineering and social sciences & humanities. --MrLinkinPark333 (talk) 22:18, 13 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]
@MrLinkinPark333: We realize that, we have begun asking our contacts at sage for the journals: they were our initial priority, but when they offered the stats instead, we took the access with the hope of demonstrating impact and usage further. We have begun asking again for expanded journals access. Hopefully we will get it soon, Astinson (WMF) (talk) 18:16, 3 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Routledge is described on its website as "the world's leading academic publisher in the Humanities and Social Sciences." As such, it has publications that would be of value not only in my primary area of interest (old-time radio), but in a wide variety of other fields, which should be useful to many Wikipedia editors. As I write this message, the website lists 58 categories in which it publishes material. Routledge is a member of the Taylor & Francis group, which makes some of its material available to Wikipedia editors. I found out today, however, that the current agreement with Taylor & Francis applies only to databases -- not to books. I have found samples of Routledge publications on Google books and used material from those, but of course they provide only a limited number of pages of each book. Eddie Blick (talk) 13:38, 30 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I second that. I had once the chance to use some of their works about classical studies (Greek history) and they looked very good to me. Lots of their books are available as ebooks on T&F ebooks via subscription. ContinuaEvoluzione08:42, 1 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
@Continua Evoluzione: Thanks for sharing the link to the Taylor and Francis collection. @Teblick: We have WP:TANDF which has targeted collections from that space. IN particular, we have an arts and humanities collection there that might be useful for you in the radio topics. We are also looking to get more targeted collections from them: so if you find a particular source not including in the current donation, let us know what it is, and we can ask for that access. Astinson (WMF) (talk) 19:30, 3 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks! I will take a look at what is available in the arts and humanities collection to see if some of it might apply to my research. Three books from Routledge have already caught my attention:
The Biographical Encyclopedia of American Radio, edited by Christopher H. Sterling and Cary O'Dell
Encyclopedia of Radio 3-Volume Set, edited by Christopher H. Sterling
The Concise Encyclopedia of American Radio, edited by Christopher H. Sterling and Cary O'Dell
I'm sure that any of the three would be quite helpful for the kinds of articles that I create and edit. Perhaps the company has PDF copies available. That is how McFarland has provided its books that I have received. I appreciate your help with this. Eddie Blick (talk) 20:42, 3 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
@Timmyshin: since they are merging with WP:TANDF, I think we probably won't pursue the relationship. We already have a good relationship with Taylor and Francis, with strong likelihoods of that partnership expanding in the near future. I would recommend applying for the collection you need in that group, that way you are on the waitlist. Astinson (WMF) (talk) 16:58, 4 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]
The BUFVC is "a representative body which promotes the production, study and use of moving image, sound and related media in higher education, further education and research". Its services include a number of databases. It also runs Box of Broadcasts (BoB), an online archive of radio and television programmes, including all BBC TV and radio content dating from 2007 (800,000+ programmes) over 10 foreign language channels, including French, German and Italian.
@Pigsonthewing: Sorry for not responding sooner! Did some initial investigation a month ago, and it appears I didn't respond. As always we welcome any initial outreach. I am not sure how consistent, or to what extent we could have access to the whole thing --- it looks like its supported by JISC, which does have geographic bounds. In the past, we have helped support donations secured by WMUK, and would be welcome to do so again. Our pitch documentation is at Wikipedia:The Wikipedia Library/Processes/Pitching partners, if you need language or strategy. Astinson (WMF) (talk) 19:57, 26 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
BearManor Media publishes a fairly extensive list of books related to film, television, radio and the people involved in them, focusing more on history than on the present day. Most of my creating and editing of Wikipedia articles involves those areas, and I see a number of titles on the company's website that would be useful. I would appreciate someone's investigating whether Wikipedia might establish an arrangement with BearManor like the one it already has with McFarland. Eddie Blick (talk) 02:31, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
@Teblick: Thanks for the great recommendation! That looks like a rather narrow collection, that probably would serve only one or two editors. In the past, with this size collection, we have asked that the editor requesting do the outreach, using our process documented at Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Library/Processes/Pitching_partners. Editors have fairly high success rates with smaller publishers. If you do email them, feel free to cc me at astinsonwikimedia.org, and if a hard question comes up, I would be happy to step in and help. We have had similar smaller asks go very successfully with other editors (for example, WP:Miramar). We find that negotiations are much easier with smaller organizations. We would be happy to list it as a signup, if they agree to give books to more editors, Astinson (WMF) (talk) 14:51, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
@Astinson (WMF): Thanks for your quick reply. After reading it, I skimmed the "Partner pitch guide," but I need to go back and read that document more thoroughly. Will it be all right if I contact you at the email address you listed in order to discuss how I might approach the people at BearManor? Eddie Blick (talk) 15:25, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Sure that's fine, or we can also talk here. Generally, I would recommend trying their public email addresses. Typically, small outfits like BearManor, have just a handful of staff so any communications that is out of the ordinary (like "access partnership with Wikipedia"), will get to the right person in the office really quickly. Part of the reason, we have WMF staff or more experienced volunteer doing conversations with the larger publishers, is that it takes a lot more wading through bureaucracy to get to the right person, unfortunately. We have also had a lot of success with cold-calling. Having the pitch page open during the cold call, can help with the typical questions you will get, Astinson (WMF) (talk) 15:34, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
AccessEngineering provides access to McGraw-Hill reference publications. It covers 14 major areas of engineering. It would be a valuable asset for developing engineering concepts on Wikipedias, that are not really included in traditional academic databases which focus more on research, and books that are not available in your local library. Amqui (talk) 15:37, 15 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Access to many biographical sources and other journals that aren't included in our other current packages. I'd love to see this added to our Gale partnership. czar15:13, 15 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]
"Oxford Scholarly Editions" contains things like (my area of interest) the complete set of critical editions of the plays and poems from The Oxford Shakespeare, and all manner of other scholarly editions in many fields. In addition, Oxford University Press has recently announced "The New Oxford Shakespeare" a fully digitally integrated new complete edition of The Oxford Shakespeare. How the content of the one will relate to the other is not clear (maybe the new editions will replace the extant ones on Oxford Scholarly Editions?), but access to either or, preferably, both these services would be wonderfully useful.
@Xover: Not as of yet - I'll take a look at where we got to and see if I can push that along. As for ODNB access - I think the accounts might have been for a period of one year and thus will require renewal. I'll clarify that too. Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 10:29, 18 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
That's… disappointing. I guess we'll have to pin our hopes on the other major publisher of critical editions of Shakespeare for primary reference works for the play-related articles then. But thanks for following up with them on this, Sam! --Xover (talk) 11:17, 22 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
The US national archives. Holds an enormous number of documents, etc, certainly in the millions. Currently I need about 40 documents from it, for research. scope_creep (talk) 16:40, 18 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]
I came across this publisher while attempting to find a source in the Resource Exchange. This publisher offers over 50 journals that could be beneficial to Wikipeidans. These jounrals include topics on LGBT and women studies. --MrLinkinPark333 (talk) 00:48, 1 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
@Samwalton9: I did see that Radical History Review was on Muse, (which I have access), but it doesn't have the issue which I need. The publisher could be helpful to cover the missing gaps. --MrLinkinPark333 (talk) 00:55, 1 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
@MrLinkinPark333: That's a shame. I'll look into this but since we have access to a fair portion of their content already it's not going to be a priority; if you need a specific item you'll be better off requesting it at WP:RX for now. Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 01:14, 1 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Number of potential users: all users for every topic
Description:
In 2015 Thomas Mann wrote in "The Oxford Guide to Library Research" 4th ed., "This is a subscription file published by Paratext (Stone Ridge, VA) that is an index to all of the individual articles in about 45,000 specialized subject encyclopedias and other reference sources from 750 publishers; coverage extends back to 1980. This database also links directly to full texts of the articles supplied by other sources (e.g., SAGE Knowledge, Oxford Reference, Elsevier's ScienceDirect, CREDO Reference) if your library already has separate subscriptions to these databases."
According to Paratext, "35 million links to 50,000 subject encyclopedias, compendia & handbooks", includes "All major e-reference publishers represented", and "E-book and legacy print collection", within "English-language coverage, 1975 – 2016".
@LouisAragon: Sorry for the delay here. This is actually just waiting on us to implement proxy authentication to the Library Card platform, at which point we'll be ready to get people set up with access. Hoping to make real progress on that in the new year :) Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 10:51, 20 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]
The problem is that popular, user-generated databases like the IMDb are unusable on Wikipedia. There are reliable alternatives to the IMDb, but free sites often must sacrifice comprehensiveness or how often they update their database. For example, it can take years before a film shows up in the AFI Catalog of Feature Films. WikiProject Film is one of the more active WikiProjects, and access to any one of these sources would be invaluable, especially in sourcing upcoming films and European films. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 21:56, 25 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]
@NinjaRobotPirate: I'll start with Variety Insight. On a sidenote, when citing their public release date list, you'll probably want to use an archived version since it looks like that list will update as time goes on, removing movies that release. Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 11:31, 22 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah, I usually update it to point to an archived version once it scrolls off. They update the entries occasionally, so using the most recent version possible seems like a good idea. Insight would be a very useful resource. Variety opened up their previously paywalled review archive, so I have some small degree of hope there. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 15:29, 22 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]
The Register of Graduates, West Point Association of Graduates (WPAOG), Communications and Marketing, 100 potential users (to start)
Formerly, the Biographical register of the officers and graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., from its establishment, in 1802 (example) was published at ten-year intervals and provided biographical data on graduates of USMA, including their Cullum numbers. That resource is now maintained by the WPAOG. Because the Register provides useful data and does not contain adverse information, I'm hopeful that the Association will allow access. I've based my potential users count on the approximately 1100 active members of Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history. I'm guessing that the entry point for communication with the Association is one of the people featured on the web page I've cited.
Automatic Identification System (AIS) is a system for ships to transmit via VHF radio their location, course and speed and other data. It is collected by various government and private entities at shore stations and satellites. The tracking data can be incorporated in useful ways for Wikipedia articles, such as analyses of collisions. The developing article USS Fitzgerald and MV ACX Crystal collision is such an example.
Note that free historical downloads for most US waters are available at https://marinecadastre.gov/ais/. It would also be a worthwhile effort to collate such sources for other countries if the full commercial feed(s) aren't available.
fr:Le Maitron (contact info with list of current partners) carries a dozen biographical dictionaries on people associated with labor movements. The entire set is available online, but paywalled. There isn't another resource like this in English, and the French version (print or online) isn't readily available in English-language countries. It would be quite a boon to have access to this resource. Jake/@Samwalton9 (WMF), let me know if this isn't on your docket and I could reach out myself (not in French, though). Or perhaps there are staff from TWL on frwp who can help? czar22:05, 28 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]
@Samwalton9 (WMF): For whatever it's worth, I also occasionally run into books (primarily from Routledge) that are only available via T&F ebooks (the current T&F access is journals only, or so the description suggests). The latest was Shakespeare on Silent Film: A Strange Eventful History by Robert Hamilton Ball (which, incdentally, is the standard work on its topic; updated this century by Judith Buchanan's Shakespeare on Silent Film: An Excellent Dumb Discourse—published on CUP but sadly not available on Cambridge Core for some reason—but still not replaced). --Xover (talk) 18:30, 11 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@Mahir256: Unfortunately the response I received from Taylor & Francis was negative on adding the archive to our available collections at this time. I'll revisit this with them in the future. Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 09:40, 19 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]
South Asia Archive, seems to contain a lot of historical documents and journal issues concerning South Asia. Good endorsements by leading researchers on the page. A tried to get an account, but it said that I have to recommend it to my librarian [5]. -- Kautilya3 (talk) 00:15, 25 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Aggregator of over 140 African newspapers, which would be extremely useful for anyone trying to write articles on Africa-related topics (certainly there appears to be a lot of useful content on Zambian MPs, which I am currently trying to create articles on). Number5721:10, 8 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@Samwalton9 (WMF): Any thoughts on this? I'm trying to write articles on Zambian MPs at the moment and around half of the useful info that's coming up is from articles in this aggregator (which are largely invisible beyond what shows up on Google)? It would certainly go a little way to helping address our rather threadbare coverage of Africa. Number5722:45, 19 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Samwalton9 (WMF) I'm going to bump this because I came here to request it. I hit this paywall just about any time I'm researching something regarding Africa, and it would be a game changer in writing about African topics. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 18:08, 21 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
I've only poked around in these reference works but already I can tell some are crazy good. This looks more valuable than any database currently in TWL—it's that good. Our unsourced article says they're owned by EBSCO now, but I don't know to what extend Salem products are integrated into EBSCO's offerings. [Edit: Actually looks like Critical Survey of Long Fiction is integrated in one of my former university's EBSCO package, but not sure how that squares with ours.]
Das Deutsch Digitale Zeitschriftenarchiv comprises thousands of published academic papers in some of the most prestigious journals, e.g. in Egyptology with the Göttinger Miszellen. Most of the sources are in English and German with a few in French. The archiv covers subjects in all fields of science and the humanities and would be a great addition to what we can already access.Iry-Hor (talk) 08:14, 23 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Can you have a look at access for this site called Aluka - [8]. They have two databases, World Heritage Sites - Africa and Struggle for Freedom - South Africa. Hosted through JSTOR. Thanks. Conlinp (talk) 07:06, 15 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Illustrated London News Historical Archive 1842-2003, Gale, [9], 1000 potential users, suggested by laughing_sandbags
The Illustrated London News is a major source for research on popular culture in the United Kingdom in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. As one of the most widely circulating and influential periodicals of its time, it is a particularly useful source for issues relating to the British Empire. It appears to be available as an optional add-on to the Gale NewsVault product, but happens not to be one of the titles to which we currently have access through the Wikipedia Library. I wonder whether we could get in touch with Gale to request access? Laughing sandbags (talk) 14:37, 21 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I have used back issues of The New York Times extensively since I gained access to that database via Proquest. My procedure has been to copy the URL of the displayed page and paste it in the appropriate place in the "cite news" template in Source Editor, along with other relevant information. Now I don't know what to do after receiving the following message from another editor today:
I assume that searching the archives to get the "real NYT URLs" would have the same monthly limit for non-subscribers that I encountered before I began using Proquest. Does another option exist for obtaining URLs that are not "useless for nearly everybody"? Eddie Blick (talk) 21:22, 3 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Technically you should be able to get the URL from the NYT website as a non-subscriber - you just wouldn't be able to see the full text that way. However, I'm not convinced this step is necessary. (Your other option I suppose would be to use no URL at all). Nikkimaria (talk) 01:50, 4 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Put the NYT URL in the URL paramater and the ProQuest URL in the archive-url parameter. You'll have to fill in archive-date, and ProQuest doesn't provide one; I would just put in the issue date. You can also use url-status to flip between making the NYT link primary or the ProQuest link primary. I would also make use of quote to include the relevant text which will help the reader who has access to neither. Another resource for pre-1922 NYT articles is newspaper.com. WikiPedia Open Library also arranges free subscriptions. They have a clipping feature where the full article image can be retrieved by anyone - you, as the subscriber, make the clipping, and anyone can click the link to see it. Of course, for artciles that span pages, they make things awkward. I also reocmmend paying attention to that via parameter.Dovid (talk) 17:44, 9 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
A rather nice catalogue of British newspaper articles that I wish to use for 1990s TV series. The only option is to view 3 free articles after creating an account.--Coin945 (talk) 08:35, 9 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Hi all, please can you help me access these two newspaper archives? I need them to write an article on a Swedish television series.--Coin945 (talk) 08:35, 9 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Yearbook.com is a family owned and operated company located in Burlingame, CA. In 2003 we set out on what seemed an impossible task - digitize every old high school, college and military yearbook ever printed. Little did we know at the time that there are over one million yearbooks out there! Well, we may still have a long way to go but we definitely have a great start. We now have millions of yearbook pictures digitized and we are adding thousands of new pictures every week. From our estimates, we offer the largest collection of old high school, college and military yearbooks on the Internet today. Our customers use E-Yearbook.com to search for old classmates, research genealogy, browse a remarkable college sports history archive, greek life records as well as clubs and other content.
E-Yearbook.com has partnered with schools across the United States to "web-enable" their yearbook archives. 20% of revenue generated by E-Yearbook.com's licensed content goes to the schools in our yearbook digitization program.
Are you with a school yearbook program or do you have a large yearbook archive? If so, please Contact Us!
This would be a very useful addition to the Wikipedia Library.