Maastricht University (UM) wants to make its heritage collections easier to find, more useful and more sustainable for the widest audience possible, but also for scientific purposes. To develop, maintain and extend expertise in the field of linked open data Maastricht University Library initiated the project ‘Making Special Collections findable, visible and reusable in Wikidata’.

UM owns more than fifty fairy tale books from the end of the nineteenth to the beginnings of the twentieth century. This collection called ‘Golden age of illustration’ is invaluable as a source for research and education at the university. The aim of this project is to get the data of all these titles in Wikidata, the international, multilingual database, and Wikimedia Commons, the media repository of the Wikimedia Foundation with an important focus on structured data. That way, the collection will become visible, accessible and usable for everyone interested.

An important role within this project is reserved for a so called ‘Wikimedian in Residence’, who will train library staff to gain more expertise in the field of linked open data in general, and Wikidata and structured data on Wikimedia Commons in particular.

Are you interested in hearing more about the project? UM Library’s curator Odin Essers and Wikimedian in Residence Daniëlle Jansen will introduce the project during the International Conference of Terra Mosana with the theme of Sustainable Digital Heritage on 8 October 2021, organised by Maastricht Centre for Arts and Culture, Conservation and Heritage (MACCH). This event brings together researchers, policy makers, professionals and practitioners to explore the long-term sustainability of digital heritage. You can register for the panel session (Participation), which will be held online via Zoom.

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