Wikidata and repositories: opening up the future

Wikidata is an emerging resource and presents a new model for conducting scholarship. It provides an opportunity for repositories to expand their capabilities and for their staff to get hands-on experience with linked open data. This topic is important as I believe that Wikidata is not currently well understood as a concept or how it can be used by repositories in a practical, real world manner. This presentation will discuss enhancing institutional repositories with Wikidata, focusing on how it can be an extra layer of discovery. It will highlight how Wikidata can improve the discoverability, findability, and searchability of repositories, offering innovative ways to increase their visibility. The presentation will demonstrate how institutional repositories can achieve global reach, by leveraging linked data structures to maximize their impact for institutions, creators, and users alike. This session will be an invaluable chance for in person discussion and dialogue amongst individuals already using Wikidata in their repositories and librarians who are not familiar with or do not have experience in Wikidata or linked data principles. This will empower repositories to start projects on their own and to make a difference for both their users and the world through their work on Wikidata.