Wikipedia talk:Resource support pilot

Kudos

Just wanted to say, this is a great idea and thanks for piloting it! I'm not sure how well it will scale, but it's a great AGF demonstration of the way the community should work. —Ganesha811 (talk) 01:17, 12 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Seconded. It's always lovely to see support for the content creators of the community. —TechnoSquirrel69 (sigh) 02:49, 12 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hello @TechnoSquirrel69 I want to ask; If someone was able to get some books I need for writing historical articles on English Wikipedia from a library say in the UK or US, can this project fund the scanning of the books so that I can receive a digitised/PDF version of these books? Or generally, say instead of buying the books and sending them to Nigeria for me, can this project fund the digitisation instead. I am asking because I honestly would rather prefer having the PDF version of books to the hard copy itself. Vanderwaalforces (talk) 09:19, 20 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I'll go ahead and ping Rae in this, since they're probably more able to answer questions about the project's scope than I am. What I can say is that my request is being fulfilled via an e-book copy, so if the book you require has one of those, that should be possible for the WMF to arrange. —TechnoSquirrel69 (sigh) 14:01, 20 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Vanderwaalforces: Hm...I'm not sure whether this is something we can support. If it's an e-book copy from a publisher, definitely. If it's a digitization by a library, less sure. I'm out next week, and when I return (week of the 30th) I'll check internally and get back to you. RAdimer-WMF (talk) 21:55, 20 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@RAdimer-WMF Okay, thank you so much. I am looking forward to your reply. Vanderwaalforces (talk) 21:57, 20 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Vanderwaalforces: Hi! I've heard back — unfortunately, in general this would not be something that we can support. We can definitely purchase electronic versions of books, but paying for a book to be scanned has additional legal considerations that we would need to consider case-by-case. RAdimer-WMF (talk) 23:41, 2 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

About uses of pilot books in the encyclopedia

It would be very interesting to see how the books purchased for editors in this pilot are actually being used to improve Wikipedia. For example, I just introduced the first citation to the book that was purchased for me — a small addition compared to the expansions I'll no doubt be using it for in the future, but a milestone edit nonetheless! Has anyone else had the opportunity to put their books to use in their content work? —TechnoSquirrel69 (sigh) 03:45, 30 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Open

Is the pilot still open? I submitted an entry and heard nothing back. scope_creep^Talk 20:33, 31 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Scope creep: Yes! Sorry for the delay in reply, I (and many of my colleagues) have been busy preparing for Wikimania. I'll be replying to the three open requests today. RAdimer-WMF (talk) 22:35, 31 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Question

Hey, @RAdimer-WMF. I was wondering if the scope of this resource support pilot was only for books that are going to help further their Wikipedia article? I found a bunch of books by Ruth Plumly Thompson that are PD but have no free scans on Internet Archive or in the LOC. I am wanting to upload free scans of the cover art but mostly wanting to use them for their Wikisource counterparts. Would this still be able to get processed or is it solely for Wikipedia? Thanks, Cowboygilbert - (talk) ♥ 23:04, 1 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Cowboygilbert: Thanks for your question, I'll check on this and aim to get back to you soon. Best, RAdimer-WMF (talk) 20:54, 3 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Cowboygilbert: Can you send links/ISBNs for the books you're interested in? RAdimer-WMF (talk) 17:35, 4 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@RAdimer-WMF: These are the books, The Wishing Horse of Oz, Captain Salt in Oz, Handy Mandy in Oz, The Silver Princess in Oz, Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz. Cowboygilbert - (talk) ♥ 17:46, 4 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@RAdimer-WMF, I would actually only need the last 4. The Wishing Horse of Oz is free to view at one of my local Universities libraries. Thanks, Cowboygilbert - (talk) ♥ 22:23, 5 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Cowboygilbert: Okay, thanks. Would these books be usable for content on Wikipedia, or only for Wikisource? RAdimer-WMF (talk) 23:31, 8 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It could possibly be used for Wikipedia like using them for a synopsis/plot section for those that do not have it but it is also for Wikisource. I also want to kinda scratch that last comment that I sent before you, I am currently talking with the library as they are blocking me from getting a scan due to copyright issues (even though the book isn't protected by copyright). Thanks, Cowboygilbert - (talk) ♥ 00:29, 9 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Ping @RAdimer-WMF Cowboygilbert - (talk) ♥ 00:29, 9 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Cowboygilbert: Ok! This should be something we can support, feel free to make a request. RAdimer-WMF (talk) 03:40, 13 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]