South African School Librarians Conference - Presentation 2019

On Monday 1 July 2019, users: A3_Baard , Dagelf and Oesjaar presented at the South African School Librarians' Conference to roughly 50 delegates. The purpose of the presentation was to introduce librarians to Wikipedia and highlight how they can incorporate Wikipedia into their library curriculum.

Despite being the last presentation of the conference, and the one just after lunch, the presentation was well attended- and received with the potential for two additional presentations in the Cape Town area. Unfortunately there wasn't enough time for any live editing to be done at this event.

Highlights
Librarians and Wikimedians have a lot in common. Librarians appreciated us understanding that they don't have time to edit and us rather giving them ideas on how Wikipedia can help them/give them more time - and how it can help them support patrons of their libraries. Common criticisms of Wikipedia were also addressed - they know about mistakes in books and mistakes on Wikipedia get fixed quicker. We explained how citations can be requested or added. One librarian noted that Wikipedia is a great way to find other (sometimes self-published) books by the same author.

Slide deck: Wikipedia for Librarians - Wikimedia ZA

Details:
Where: St Andrew's College, Grahamstown/Makhanda, South Africa
Date: 1 July 2019
Time: 13:00
Attendants: +- 50 (an attendance record has been requested from the conference organisors)
Reference to the session can also be found here.

Other Activities
Oesjaar managed to visit the SAIAB (South African Institute for Aquatic Bio-Diversity) where he met with local knowledge owners and received documents to expand on Fish diversity on Afrikaans and English Wikipedia. Makhanda is a student town and there was an arts festival held. Dagelf interacted with many students and presenters at other talks and workshops, and suggested ways they could use Wikipedia and materials they could publish under permissive licenses.

Costs:
Transport: R6110.98 (Flight for Oesjaar and Car for A3_Baard and Dagelf)
Food: R1209.5
Accommodation: Free

Costs covered by St Andrew's:
Hostel accommodation was provided to us by St Andrew's College as well as breakfast on both mornings.
We were invited to, and attended, the closing dinner hosted by St Andrew's.