Thanks Jake for all you and the team did to bring it all this way! FN On Fri, 6 Sep 2019 at 21:44, Jake Orlowitz <[email protected]> wrote:
> Dear Wiki-Friends, > > September 6th marks the end of my time at the Wikimedia Foundation. > > At my center has been the belief that I serve the movement above all else. > This was what motivated the creation of a research service for editors in > the first place. Today, it leaves me to look outside the Foundation to how > I can best influence and impact change for the open knowledge community, > and our broadly fractured society. > > When I founded The Wikipedia Library in 2011, the course of my life > changed. I became a grantee with an Individual Engagement Grant, guided by > Siko Bouterse and Anasuya Sengupta, to expand TWL. It was a dream fulfilled > to be asked to join the Wikimedia Foundation full-time in 2014 to establish > the program worldwide. > > With much mentorship and help, we grew TWL from a one-man, English-only > publisher signup project into an international, multilingual outreach > effort with a global campaign, national convenings, and a functioning > digital library stocked with 100,000 free-to-read scholarly journals. Those > sources can be used to verify information, write new articles, close > content gaps, and remedy systemic bias. > > > Now, librarians are as likely to be supporters and contributors as they > used to be critics. The movement is full of 'wikibrarians', from the > 200-member Wikimedia and Libraries User Group to the 2000 person Wikimedia > + Libraries Facebook Group. Conferences around the world have strong > advocates for the intersection and alliance of Wikipedia and Libraries. > > Along the way I had the true privilege of building a team that gave me > confidence and extremely good company. It's my conviction that good work > is calm, full of humor, and has care for people at its core. I found that > generous spirit heartily alive in my team at The Wikipedia Library. I > cannot thank them enough. > > The work is not yet finished and yet it is in good hands. With Sam Walton > in charge of managing The Wikipedia Library, Felix Nartey and Aaron Vasanth > running global outreach, Jason Sherman developing the Library Card > Platform, and a whole crew of coordinated volunteers handling reference > services…much more is still to come. > > > You can reach out to TWL any time at [email protected]. > > As I look ahead to new vistas, I leave with questions and hope to hear > your thoughts. What needs to be done next? Who could use the most support? > Which organizations are ripe for change? What capacity still needs to be > created? Where can I best advocate and help grow? How can we collaborate? > > > Email me at [email protected] and share what's on your mind, or just > say hello. > > > It's been a true pleasure to serve our beautiful, messy movement: I > couldn't be more excited to join its ranks again. > > > Thanks and cheers, > > > ~~~~ > > Jake Orlowitz > > User:Ocaasi > > _______________________________________________ > Libraries mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/libraries >
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