On Monday September 16th, Columbia University Libraries will be hosting a kick off event for a series of Wikipedia Edit-a-thon's this fall semester. There will be a panel and Wikipedia Edit-a-thon at the Butler Library. Edit-a-thon’s provide ways of editing one of our world’s most accessible knowledge systems through the creation of new pages, the editing of existing pages, or the translation of current pages into more languages. Our vision is to introduce the skills, expertise, and enthusiasm of our community at Columbia University to public scholarship.

The panel will feature rockstars in the Wikipedia Activism world: AfroCrowd's Alice Backer and Sherry Antoine, and OCLC's Merrilee Proffitt. The goal is to inspire Columbia University participants to engage with Wikipedia enthusiastically at the event and encourage them to continue to contribute after the event.