The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is nationally recognized as a preeminent research library and archive repository that has been a fixture in New York’s famed Harlem community dating back to the early 20th century.
This branch of the New York Public Library continues to serve the city, not only as a research institution, but also as a community center at which residents, researchers, and tourists gather to observe and participate in Black historical and cultural events.
On Feb. 7, the first Saturday of Black History Month 2015, the Schomburg Center is hosting the Black Life Matters Wikipedia Edit-a-thon. This weekend’s edit-a-thon is one of several occurring this February as part of the first-ever Black WikiHistory Month observance in the U.S.
Black WikiHistory Month edit-a-thons are open to anyone interested in editing and writing Wikipedia reference articles pertaining to Black historical figures and events.
In New York, expert volunteer Wikipedia editors along with Schomburg Center staff members will be training participants on how to properly edit and write Wikipedia articles in the hopes of spurring them to contribute to the free, Internet-based encyclopedia. Other New York-area Black WikiHistory Month edit-a-thons are scheduled this Saturday at the Brooklyn Public Library and Purchase College in Purchase, New York. Additional edit-a-thons this month covering Black history are taking place in Washington, D.C. and Nashville, Tennessee.
By Thursday, the Schomburg Center had closed its edit-a-thon registration after reaching full capacity of 200 participants. “The response we’ve gotten has been tremendous. It’s really been wonderful,” said Maira Liriano, the center’s associate chief librarian.
“The Schomburg Center is taking upon itself to encourage people to come to the center so that we can crowdsource Wikipedia; we can improve entries; [and] we can add entries where there are none for historical figures of African descent who help to make this world what it is,” said Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad, the Schomburg Center director, during a televised Huffington Post interview.
