What’s new in the Wikipedia Library? (October – December 2025)

In the last quarter, we met partners at the Frankfurt Book Fair, restored access to the British Newspaper Archive, and added an Arabic language academic resource with more than 7 million records.

New partnerships

We added four new content collections to the library:

• British Newspaper Archive: We restored access to this popular collection, which features millions of pages of digitised historical newspapers, including news articles, family notices, letters, advertisements, and obituaries. We also made it available via the Library Bundle, providing instant access to all eligible editors.
• Findmypast provides access to billions of historical records, including UK/Irish censuses, newspapers, parish records, and military records. This collection is also included in the Library Bundle.
• e-Marefa is an Arabic e-database featuring academic periodicals, dissertations, and e-books. It offers full-text access to millions of records and specialised databases (such as Islamic finance), making Arabic knowledge more accessible globally. This collection is also part of the Library Bundle.
• The News Minute is an independent, digital news platform focusing primarily on South India. It is known for its in-depth reporting, feminist perspective, and coverage of politics, social issues, and culture. Eligible editors can apply for access here.

Renewals and expanded access

• In December, ProQuest renewed our access for another year and agreed to provide three additional collections based on community requests from the Library’s Suggest page. Our updated ProQuest access now includes:
  • ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global (PQDT Global)
  • Ulrichsweb
  • ProQuest Central
  • Literature Online (LION)
  • Chinese Newspapers Collection
  • ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times
• Arcanum has provided additional voucher codes; users who applied a year ago can now renew their subscriptions.
• BioOne has moved to the Library Bundle, which means all eligible editors now have instant access (it was previously limited to 50 editors).

Additionally, de Gruyter Brill, Al Manhal, and Cambridge University Press renewed access for another year.

A panel discussion at the Knowledge is Human event. Credits: Mike Peel, CC-BY-SA

Conferences

• Frankfurt Book Fair: We met with many existing and prospective partners at the Fair this year, leading to increased access to ProQuest, de Gruyter Brill, and e-Marefa. We extend our thanks to Wikimedia Germany and local volunteers for hosting the Wikipedia booth.
• Knowledge is Human: Hosted by the Foundation and Wikimedia UK in partnership with the British Library, this event covered safeguarding knowledge as a public good, the human labor behind AI, and media literacy. 
• Trust Conference: We were invited to the Trust Conference, a global forum to discuss critical issues at the intersection of media freedom, technology, human rights, and responsible business. The conference is hosted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, who recently uploaded a selection of their Context News videos for use on Wikipedia.  This year, Jimmy Wales contributed to the opening panel, Upholding Freedom in an Autocratic Age.