Spanish Universities Writing About Books for #EveryBookItsReader

June 6, 2025, by Tomás Saorín, Member of Wikimedia Spain and professor at the Faculty of Communication and Documentation of the University of Murcia

Throughout March and April 2025, Spanish universities with programs in the field of information and documentation (RUID, roughly equivalent to LIS) launched a competition to write Wikipedia articles about books, supporting the international Wikimedia campaign “Every Book Its Reader / Cada libro su público“. Online collaboration, free knowledge, open data, knowledge graphs, information sources, cultural memory, digital literacy or citizen participation are addressed in different subjects of these university degrees. Wikimedia projects often use you as a specific object of study, and also as a practice platform, especially Wikipedia and Wikidata, in the degrees of Information and Documentation; Information and Digital Content Management or Information and Digital Documentation Management, at the Carlos III and Complutense Universities of Madrid, Zaragoza, Salamanca, A Coruña, Barcelona, ​​Valencia, Murcia, Granada or Badajoz.

This competition was not only an encyclopedic writing activity but also an exercise in cultural mediation, digital bibliodiversity, and collaborative learning. The goal was to raise awareness among students, as well as practicing graduates in libraries, archives, and cultural institutions, of the value of generating content about literary works on professional Wikipedias. Various workshops were held, both within and outside the academic program, to promote not only good editing, but also careful and responsible editing of those things that matter to us: books and reading.

Two awards were offered: one for narrative fiction in any format or genre (graphic novel, plays, short stories, novels, screenplays, comics, sagas, etc.) and another for non-fiction (essays, specialized monographs). The former required entries for works written since 2000 in any of the peninsular languages ​​(Spanish, Basque, Galician, Catalan) or European languages ​​(with Erasmus students at our faculties in mind). In the fiction category, Ana María Rodríguez Pérez, a student at the University of Valencia, surprised the jury with an article on The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, a graphic novel by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. In the non-fiction category , the essay The Enemy Knows the System by Marta Peirano was strongly addressed by Ana Vargas Noguera, from the University of Murcia.

In addition, works that approached books from original angles or with special care in their contextualization were highlighted: Las malas mujeres (Bad Women) (Alicia Pena, Bibliotecas Municipales da A Coruña), Mari-Pérez (Mª José Baños, University of Murcia), Río de las congojas (Rivers of Sorrows) (Eugenia Rita Bedini, former exchange student at the University of Buenos Aires), El dolor de los otros (Alejandro Paredero Pérez, Regional Library of Murcia). A special mention goes to the charming collective article on El secuestro de la libraria (The Kidnapping of the Librarian) , written by students from the University of Zaragoza. Some of the articles created in this edition were also published in Galician, English, or Catalan. Others were complemented with improvements to Wikidata or cross-links with biographies of authors, publishers, or literary movements. We don’t just want more articles, but better connected, more diverse, and open to all languages ​​and perspectives.

Guide and tutorials for writing about books

Alejandra Quiroz’s brilliant presentation at the recent WikiLibCon in Mexico City served as an inspirational starting point. Among the student support activities, the presentation “Pocket Tips for Editing Books on Wikipedia (in Spanish)” and the video tutorial “Your First Book Article on Wikipedia (also in Spanish)” are available. Along with the practical guide to editing an article, a broad vision of the challenge is proposed: writing about books on Wikipedia is much more than creating a bibliographic record. It involves critically considering the cultural relevance of a work, its reception, its multiple publishing lives, and its dialogue with other works. Writing the article is an opportunity to enrich the mere reading experience with the book’s publishing history, its public and critical reception, its trajectory and subsequent influences… all of this is encyclopedic and creates connections between books and readers. In a world where book searches often lead us to commercial catalogs or promotional synopses, Wikipedia articles become an island of plural and sustained guidance, removed from the tide of uniform, repetitive, and ephemeral editorial promotion and marketing. Encyclopedia articles can be an entry point for discovering, understanding, and appreciating literary production, from the global bestseller to the essay with local impact.

The question of which books are relevant to the encyclopedia was one of the most interesting questions posed by participants in the workshops held for the competition. Only the classics? Only the award-winning ones? Only those that have already been adapted or translated? The answer was generous: all those that are already beginning to make their mark. That’s why it’s important to understand that there’s a kind of “path to Wikipedia,” made up of reissues, reviews, interviews, academic studies, presence in book clubs, tributes, translations… Signs that indicate that a book has “moved beyond the screen” and can be considered culturally relevant.

One of the most valuable lessons learned from this competition has been to accept that an encyclopedic article is not a review or a reading recommendation. It is written as guidance, not as promotion. As Pierre Bayard says in a quote used as a reflection on “the librarian approach” to reading recommendations: “Being cultured does not consist in having read this or that book, but in knowing how to orient oneself as a whole, that is, knowing that they form a whole and being able to situate each element in relation to the rest.” Articles about books on Wikipedia are part of this framework. They do not replace the book, nor do they seek to summarize it; rather, they aim to connect it. They can be written even without having read the work, drawing on rigorous secondary sources. It is the classic exercise of the cultural mediator: providing context, structure, and visibility.

However, writing about books presents specific difficulties related to relevance criteria, the availability of reviews in accessible, high-quality publications, access to specific sources, and its simultaneous global and local industry status. Almost any film, no matter how small its value, is easily found on Wikipedia, but many books face obstacles to being accepted into the encyclopedia. There are systemic disadvantages that require a more inclusive approach to the encyclopedia and complementary off-wiki actions.

A transformative seed

For many students and professionals, this was their first foray into Wikipedia editing. They discovered the power of the user workshop, teamwork, the value of linking correctly, using reliable sources, building an infobox, and reviewing relevance criteria. They also faced real questions: how to approach a very recent book? Or a local but well-loved one? What sources are appropriate? Can I use social media? How do I cite a video interview? The answer, in general, was: with discretion, with help, with time… and with love.

The RUID competition has been a clear example of how partnerships between universities, libraries, and Wikimedia communities can foster open knowledge and cultural diversity. The handful of articles generated this year will continue to grow, like any living content on Wikipedia. But the most important thing is the human fabric, the collaborative learning, and the humble enthusiasm that was sown. Because every book can find its audience… and every article can become a compass for the readers of tomorrow.

The “EveryBookItsReader” campaign deserves broader collective action and greater enthusiasm. We hope that sooner rather than later it will explode, and that we will be documenting the cultural history of literary works from all over the world. May 2026 be the year of Wikipedia as a literary encyclopedia!