Gerald R. Ford Library Hires Wikipedian in Residence
By JENNIFER SCHUESSLER
Gerald R. Ford may have governed during a time of
economic stagnation, but his library has just laid claim to a cutting-edge
distinction: becoming the first presidential depository to employ an official
"Wikipedian in residence."
Michael Barera, a master's student at the University of
Michigan's School of Information who has been editing Wikipedia articles for
five years, started the job last week, The Chronicle of Higher Education
reported. He is charged with improving the Wikipedia presence of the Gerald R.
Ford Presidential Library and Museum, which is housed at the university's Ann
Arbor campus.
In 2010 the British Museum became the first organization
to engage a Wikipedian in residence, which was seen at the time as an
acknowledgment of the fact that Wikipedia articles about libraries, museums and
other institutions were sometimes drawing far more traffic than the
institution's own Web sites. Since then, according to Wikipedia, some 30 others
have followed suit, including the Smithsonian Institution, the Israel Museum
and the Palace of Versailles.
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