WELx + Belém Library: Mirrored Learning

Part of Lisbon’s municipal network of libraries, the Belém Library has the distinction of housing a specialized collection of feminist literature: the Ana de Castro Osório Specialized Library, which comprises over 2000 titles. According to Filipa Barros, the library’s coordinator, approximately 80% of these titles are authored by women—almost the inverse of the proportion foundtraditionally in public library’s collection, where only about 20% of the books are written by female authors. Such focused collections tend to be more common in academic settings. A public library, open to all, expands the reach of the material as you don’t need to be a scholar or a researcher to explore it.

Filipa spoke at the 2025 GLAM Wiki Conference in Lisbon about the partnership between the library and Wiki Editoras LX (WELx), a feminist collective of editors active since 2019. The collaboration began after she participated in an editing workshop organized by WELx. Filipa was so struck by the editors’ work that she reached out immediately afterwards to propose an event at the library.

The WELx editors were enthusiastic about the proposal but set one condition: that everyone working at the library should become familiar with the project. Engaging more people at the institution helps foster a sustainable relationship that can last beyond a single event. As other Wikimedians have told us, participation of institutional staff is an important factor in ensuring continuity.

But just as the editors wanted to involve the library professionals, the library also wanted to ensure that the editors were acquainted with the collection. The two teams understood that both sides should contribute to the first WELx + Belém Library event for it to be a success. Filipa is committed to inviting the public to engage with the library. As she notes, while librarians are deeply familiar with the material, members of the broader community are always welcome to explore it further: more eyes bring more findings. When listening to Filipa, we hear the embodiment of true public service; she is someone who goes the extra mile to share knowledge and bring cultural heritage to the broader community.

Before the first event took place, the WELx editors spent time researching the collection, even finding hidden treasures. On their side, the Belém librarians contributed with their deep knowledge about the collection, organizing a spreadsheet with background information about the books, their authors, and the context of publication. Here we must talk about another precondition set by Filipa: the work should rely on physical books. As she insisted: books, not links. In fact, we can argue that the physical nature of these encounters—the space, the books, meeting in person—is another aspect that makes GLAM + Wikimedia partnerships special. The virtual becomes truly another dimension, one that fosters connections and does not propose to replace the human touch. Rather, it brings people closer together.

After this careful preparation, the first WELx + Belém Library partnership, which was also the first GLAM partnership of the editors, took place in September 2024. It was a Wikipedia editing encounter focused on revolutionary women in Portugal, based on the Belém library material.

Preparation beforehand was important not only as an organizing step; it also had a moral effect as the librarians were pleased to see that the WELx editors already had an appreciation for the collection. On the other hand, the editors were impressed by the contextual information gathered by the library team. Filipa calls this a kind of “mirrored learning,” a two-way process in which both teams learn from each other.

After the first session, the editors and the library organized other public events to contribute to Wikipedia and Wikiquote. Filipa has become a consistent Wikimedian. The partnership also produced other outcomes: Andrea Ebert, an illustrator and Wikimedian who participated in one of the joint events, felt compelled to create images for women’s biographies, a creative and beautiful way to circumvent the dearth of images available to illustrate articles.

Lessons learned

Of course, some aspects of this partnership are specific to the context, most notably the feminist collection. However, we can find lessons that can be replicated elsewhere, for example:

• The idea of mirrored learning: both Wikimedia and GLAM teams are interested and take the time to learn from each other;
• Involve everybody, even people who might not be directly leading or participating in the actual event. It’s important that people in the institution know what’s happening. Reception must know what’s happening, security must know what’s happening. Moreover, this shared knowledge can become part of the institutional culture, so that even if the current leader leaves in the future, someone else can coordinate new Wikimedia initiatives;
• Plan in advance: both teams show up prepared for the first encounter with something tangible to contribute;
• Get to know the place before the event. Although the Belém Library is open to the general public, some GLAMs have more restricted access.

We want to hear from you!

This post is part of the project Wiki and GLAM: Harnessing Knowledge to Foster Gender Equality. If you have organized or participated in a Wikimedia + GLAM partnership focused on gender, we want to hear from you! Join our Telegram channel or email wikiglamgender@gmail.com to get in touch.

We want to thank Filipa Barros and Ana Bragança (WELx) for talking to us.