Wikidata in the GLAM ecosystem: promoted by Wikimedia Spain from the Prado Museum

On 25 February, Wikimedia Spain held the second edition of Wikidata in the GLAM context in the conference room of the Prado National Museum.

Entitled ‘Connected Heritage: Wikidata in the GLAM Ecosystem,’ the meeting brought together professionals from museums, libraries, archives, universities, and digital communities to reflect on a common challenge: how to better connect cultural heritage through open data.

A space that is becoming established

The opening ceremony was led by Alfonso Palacio, Deputy Director of Conservation at the Prado, who celebrated the fact that this second edition consolidates the previous event as a benchmark with national and international reach.

For his part, Gustavo Candela, member of the Board of Directors of Wikimedia Spain and professor at the University of Alicante, thanked the Prado for its ongoing collaboration and highlighted a key idea:

‘Wikidata is much more than a database: it is a living ecosystem that connects collections, data and people.’

This phrase sums up the spirit of the day: opening up, structuring and connecting cultural heritage so that it can travel beyond the physical walls of institutions.

The Prado and the construction of a connected ecosystem

The first presentation focused on the collaboration between the Prado and Wikidata. Ana Mª Martín Bravo, head of the Documentation and Archiving Service, explained how the museum has developed tools such as Augmented Reading and Timeline, which establish links between the content of its website and entities on Wikipedia and Wikidata.

The starting point was clear:

• Complex texts about collections.
• Need to enrich content with verified external data.
• Construction of an ecosystem linked to other cultural institutions.

As stated in the 2017–2020 Action Plan, the aim is to integrate the Prado’s data with that of other collections to provide context, depth and new ways of understanding.

Libraries and Wikidata: a natural convergence

Elena Sánchez Nogales, director of the Library of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), posed an essential question:

‘Why do libraries and Wikidata understand each other so well?’

The answer lies in shared values:

• Knowledge as a public good.
• Access to information as a raison d’être.
• Standards, authorities and interoperability as common DNA.

Wikidata is presented as a key public digital infrastructure for improving visibility, diverse representation and the discovery of heritage.

In addition, a highly topical debate was opened:

• ‘What is heritage in the age of artificial intelligence?’
• ‘Can AI help democratise access to information?’

Cultural institutions, they agreed, have the opportunity to contribute to a more egalitarian and inclusive AI, based on open, quality data.

Europe, data and community

Alba Irollo, research coordinator at the Europeana Foundation, offered a European perspective on digital heritage. She highlighted how the Europeana platform, active since 2008, provides access to European digital cultural heritage datasets, with an interface and search function available in Spanish. Spain is among the 10 countries that contribute the most data to this platform.

Since 2022, Europeana has been operating within the Common European Data Space for Cultural Heritage, a digital environment that provides infrastructure, quality data, public services, capacity building and tools for reuse. These initiatives are transforming the way cultural institutions conceive of collections, which are no longer seen solely as objects but are now understood as connected data.

‘This opens up new opportunities for the management and conservation of collections, research and citizen participation,’ said Alba, highlighting how data can strengthen collaboration and innovation in European cultural heritage.

The experience of the National Library of Spain

One of the most illustrative cases was presented by Ricardo Santos Muñoz, Director of the Technical Process Department at the National Library of Spain.

In 2019, more than 80,000 authority records were enriched with metadata from Wikidata. Six years later, the results are revealing:

• 167,228 active links to Wikidata.
• More than 160,000 people and 6,700 entities connected.
• Greater confidence among library staff in the use of Wikidata identifiers.
• Time savings and better use of data.

Yes, there were errors. But they were not always ‘Wikidata errors’: sometimes they were matching problems or conceptual differences. The experience provided valuable lessons for the present and the future.

From catalogues to interactive visualisations

From the University of Salamanca, Modesto Escobar and Ángel Zazo showed how enriching bibliographic records using Wikidata allows for the creation of galleries, interactive maps, and statistical analyses.

The process is symbiotic:

• Data is extracted using APIs.
• Contributions are made back to open knowledge.
• Attractive and accessible end products are generated.

A tangible impact: identifying gaps in representation, for example, in the historical presence of women, and even influencing library acquisition policies.

Data science is redefining the role of libraries: they no longer just store knowledge, they activate it, visualise it and connect it.

GLAM + Wikimedia: projects with lasting impact

Mahendra Mahey, member of the Board of Directors of International GLAM Labs, invited participants to think long term:

• GLAMs need physical, virtual, and mental ‘laboratories’ to experiment.
• It is essential to document the reuse of digital heritage.
• Collaboration with Wikimedia must focus on people.

The resident Wikimedians model was highlighted as a successful example of sustainable collaboration.

‘The impact is like standing on the shoulders of giants or like ripples in a pond: it can last for years.’

An ending that is a beginning

At the closing ceremony, Gustavo Candela highlighted how Wikidata and GLAM initiatives connect collections, data and people, opening up new possibilities for research and open dissemination.

The conference confirmed something essential:

When cultural heritage is structured as open data and connected globally, its reach, impact and transformative capacity multiply.

‘Thank you to all the attendees, institutions and communities that made this possible… May this closing ceremony be the beginning of new connections and projects around heritage, open data and connected communities,’ said Gustavo.

At Wikimedia Spain, we reaffirm our commitment to cultural institutions, professional communities and volunteers who make it possible for heritage to be more open, more connected and more accessible.

We will continue to promote meeting spaces like this one, where data, culture and collaboration come together to generate an impact that goes far beyond a single conference.

Further resources

If you would like to learn more about the event ‘Connected Heritage: Wikidata in the GLAM Ecosystem,’ here is all the available material:

• If you would like to view each of the presentations: Here
• Here you can view photos of the event: Gallery of the meeting