Wikidata:WikiProject University of Maryland Libraries/Wikidata project procedure

This page contains the procedure for editing Wikidata items as part of the University of Maryland Libraries' project, and some step-by-step procedures for common editing tasks. For questions about specific properties, scenarios, etc., see the Frequently asked questions page.

UMD Libraries Wikidata editing workflow

This workflow is specific to the University of Maryland Libraries' Wikidata editing project.

• Open the project spreadsheet: either "SCUA Wikidata project" or "SCPA and IPAM wikidata."
  • Since all labor collections are now complete, you can work on entities from any collection except for University Archives (UA); we are setting these aside for the moment while we figure out a comprehensive plan for them.
• Enter your name in the cataloged by column to "claim" a name.
  • Some items have been reviewed; during this step, reviewers checked for whether an item existed on Wikidata already, and if so, added an archives at (P485) property to the Wikidata item and added the Wikidata ID to the spreadsheet. They did not usually add additional properties, so the items may still need work.
  • Each name should be reviewed by a cataloger, whether or not it was initially reviewed.
• Create or enhance the item on Wikidata. This could involve a varied amount of work.
  • You may only need to add the archives at (P485) property (or check that the initial reviewer already added it), or you may choose to add any or all of the recommended properties.
  • If the item does not already exist, create it! Include all core properties, and any of the recommended properties that are relevant.
• After you have finished editing, update the WIKIDATA PAGE? (Y/N), Wikidata ID, and DATE HANDLE ADDED columns on the spreadsheet. (These may have already been filled in affirmatively by the initial reviewer. If so, do not update them.)

Creating items for UMD-related corporate names

Guidance varies on when to create a new Wikidata item for a corporate entity or organization that has changed its name or re-formed. The University of Maryland Libraries WikiProject will follow LC/RDA practice to ensure greater clarity and specificity in their Wikidata items, as well as to enable maximum linking between Wikidata and LCNAF and VIAF. Refer to the following local guidance on creating items for UMD-related corporate names.

Adding references

• You should be able to add a reference to every statement you make on Wikidata, with the exception of the instance of (P31) property and the infobox at the top (label, description, also known as). There are several different properties that you can use to indicate what kind of source you are citing.
• To add a reference, click on the add reference link that appears with each statement. This will open a blank property box; start typing the name of the property you want to use, and Wikidata should prompt it to appear in a drop-down menu.

• If your information source is a website of any kind (such as a link to a finding aid, online authority file, or other source), use the reference URL (P854) property. Paste the url into the value box, and click publish to save.

• If your information source is a Wikipedia article, or other Wikimedia resource, use the Wikimedia import URL (P4656) property. Paste the url into the value box, and click publish to save.

• You can also cite a print resource; however, there must be a Wikidata item for it, and it should match the version/edition. For instance, you could cite the Encyclopædia Britannica Fourteenth Edition (Q84250069), but not the Britannica Global Edition, because it does not yet have an item. (You can create an item if you need to; check with Neil or Sarah if you're unsure how to start.) If you are citing the Wikidata item for a print resource, use the stated in (P248) property. Enter the item's label or identifier into the value box. Use the page(s) (P304) property to cite a specific page(s) within the print resource (click the add link to add an additional set of fields below the main reference). When finished, click publish to save.

• You can add a reference at the same time as you add a property statement, and publish them simultaneously. You can also add a new reference to an already-published statement, even if there is already another reference present.
• For some additional practice, you can try the interactive References tutorial on the Wikidata Tours page.

Using the DuplicateReferences gadget

• If you are adding many statements from the same reference source (say, a University of Maryland Libraries finding aid...), you can enable a gadget called DuplicateReferences to save yourself some typing.
• In Preferences -> Gadgets, scroll down until you see the option for "DuplicateReferences: Adds a link to copy references and add them to other statements on the same item." Click on the check box next to it so that it is selected (the box will turn blue with a white check mark), and click the Save button at the bottom of the page.
• Once you have activated the DuplicateReferences gadget, you should see some new options on your Wikidata statements! Statements with existing references will have a link that says copy:

• Click copy to copy the reference; it will then change to a greyed-out copied:

• Navigate to the existing statement that you want to add the reference to. Click the new insert reference link, next to "add reference", and watch as your copied reference is inserted and saved!

• Caveat: DuplicateReferences appears to work only for existing statements. If you are adding a new statement, you would need to publish the statement without a reference, publish, re-load the page, re-copy the reference, and then insert the copied reference.

Adding qualifiers

• Qualifiers are Wikidata properties that can modify other property statements to provide more detailed or specific information. They are also standalone properties. For instance, you can create a statement with the property academic degree; you can also use academic degree as a qualifier for a statement with the property educated at.

(examples to come)

• Many properties can be used reciprocally as qualifiers for each other: academic degree can be a qualifier for educated at, as shown above, and educated at can be a qualifier for academic degree.

(examples to come)

• Think of it as two different ways to state the same piece of information:

Jane earned an MLS from the University of Maryland iSchool.

Jane attended the University of Maryland iSchool, where she earned an MLS.

• If you can add a reciprocal statement based on a property-qualifier pair, we recommend that you do so. It seems redundant, but we hope that this will make the information recorded in each Wikidata item as flexible as possible, so that it can be searched, queried, or analyzed by users in a variety of ways.

Adding external identifiers

• Even though Wikidata automatically assigns its own identifier (a string of numbers beginning with a "Q") to every item, it's helpful to add identifiers from external authority files and databases to the item as well. Adding an identifier statement links the item to other databases, and gets us one step closer to the Linked Data Future! Linking to an external identifier explicitly asserts (to other users, as well as machine processes working with Wikidata information) that the entity represented by a particular Wikidata item is the same as the entity represented by a record in the Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF), or in the Bibliothèque nationale de France's authority file, or in the International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI) system.
  • For instance, the person described by Wikidata item Q23614226 is the same person who is described by LCNAF no2006074462 and ISNI 0000 0000 0115 2920.
• The Virtual International Authority File, or VIAF (often pronounced as "VYE-aff" or "VEE-aff"), is a great starting point for locating external identifiers. VIAF, which is maintained by OCLC, brings together authority files from a variety of national libraries and other institutions. It creates authority clusters, so that records for the same person/corporate body/family from different files are grouped together, and a user can see variant names, autobiographical information, and identifiers for each entity compiled into one entry. It also assigns its own VIAF identifier to each cluster (which is another statement you can add to a Wikidata item!).

• Each VIAF cluster links out to its aggregated authority file records; you can follow these links to view the record in its original database. (The original database record usually also has a permalink or URI.)
  • Searching for VIAF identifiers can also be a way to look out for duplicate items. If another item is already linked to the same external identifier, Wikidata will show a warning flag, and you may have found a duplicate item. In addition, VIAF also indexes Wikidata identifiers, so if the name you're searching for in VIAF has a record with a little stripey Wikidata icon next to it (such as the third link in the search results for Irene Beasley pictured above), check that item first before creating a new one.
• While many of the names in the SCUA, SCPA, and IPAM collections may be listed in LCNAF, and by extension in VIAF, not all of them will be. The Social Networks in Archival Context (SNAC) database can also be a good source, or even less GLAM-centric projects such as Find-a-Grave, IMDb, or MusicBrainz.
  • Most large databases and authority files have been established as properties in Wikidata. You can usually find identifier properties by searching for the name of the institution and "ID," i.e. "VIAF ID", "LC ID," "DNB ID."
  • Some of our names might not be available in any of these databases yet! That's one of the reasons we are working on this Wikidata project.
• To add an identifier statement, click the add statement link on a Wikidata item.
• Begin typing the name of the property for that identifier in the blank Property box, and then select it from the drop-down menu that appears. Enter the identifier value in the blank value box. Note that some identifiers have formatting rules; these are usually specified in the description section of the property's Wikidata page.

• Add a reference URL (P854) to the statement, and enter the link to identifier's original database, preferably a permalink or URI. Don't forget to click publish when you're done to save the statement!

• You'll notice that Wikidata groups identifier statements into their own section, headed Identifiers, at the bottom of the item. When adding a new identifier, you can click on the add statement link anywhere on the page, not just in the Identifiers section - it will be sorted automatically after you publish.

Using the MoreIdentifiers script

• It can be time consuming to add multiple identifier links to all the files aggregated by VIAF. Luckily, there's a script to help with that: MoreIdentifiers, created by User:Bargioni. This script searches for other identifiers in a VIAF cluster based on a VIAF ID, and automatically adds statements for those identifiers to the Wikidata item.
• Navigate to your common.js page. Copy the following line of text, paste it into your commons.js page, and save the page:

 importScript( 'User:Bargioni/moreIdentifiers.js' ); 

• Navigate to a Wikidata item with a VIAF ID statement, and scroll down to the Identifiers section. You should see a box labelled "Add More Identifiers from VIAF," with a blue button that says "Add checked identifiers". The box will show a list of IDs that can be added as statements, or show that there are no additional identifiers to add to the item; the blue "Add checked identifiers" button will be present either way.

• Click the top checkbox next to VIAF cluster to select all identifiers (or select individual checkboxes if there are identifiers you don't want to add). Then click the blue "Add checked identifiers" button. The script will begin adding identifiers, and will show its progress as it runs.

• Once the script has finished running, it will give you the option to reload the page and see all of the statements you've just added.

• You can identify statements that were added with MoreIdentifiers by looking at an item's history (click the "View history" tab in the upper right corner of the page).

• Once you have set up the MoreIdentifiers script, it should appear on every Wikidata item that has a VIAF ID statement. If you do not see the "Add More Identifiers from VIAF" box, try reloading the page.
  • If the item does not have a VIAF ID statement, the MoreIdentifiers script will not run (since it doesn't have anything to work from).