Wikimedia+Libraries International Convention 2025/Programme/public-domain-paulina

Logo for WikiLibCon Improving public domain information with Wikidata and Paulina
With:
  • Jorge Leonel Gemetto
Day: January 16, 2025
Time: 11:30-11:45
Room: 2246

Abstract:
The session presents Paulina, a Wikidata-based web tool that provides a user-friendly search interface to discover authors, identify the copyright status of their works in different jurisdictions, and access public domain works from Wikisource, Commons and other sites.

A beta version of the tool is available at: https://paulina.toolforge.org/ The code repository is available at: https://gitlab.wikimedia.org/toolforge-repos/paulina

The tool is part of a larger project to improve the reliability of public domain information in Wikidata and provide a user-friendly query interface. Among other things, the project seeks to increase the representation of data about authors and works from the Global South, encourage Wikimedians and institutions to improve public domain information in Wikidata, identify reliable sources of data about works and authors, and help shape best practices for modeling public domain-related data in Wikidata.

The project also seeks to promote the creation of national, regional or thematic implementations of the tool, which allow the focus to be placed on the needs of each community. A first local adaptation of the tool is being developed in Uruguay. A very preliminary version already exists at: https://dominiopublico.uy/

The objective of this session is to present the Paulina project, show how the tool works, discuss its possible uses in libraries, obtain feedback for new functionalities and explore collaborations with people and institutions to create new local versions.