The WMF wants to buy you books!

Serendipity

The WMF wants to buy you books!

Sources are the most important part of writing quality content. But how do we get them? While it's hard to overstate the resources available through The Wikipedia Library, it doesn't have everything. Some editors have in-person access to great local or university libraries, and are able to share resources with volunteers at the resource exchange. But the resource exchange can be limited, especially with newer resources; due to copyright restrictions, full books cannot be shared, and often that's what is needed.

The resource support pilot (WP:RESUP) aims to fill this gap by purchasing resources directly for content editors. The pilot's been open since June, and so far has fulfilled about 20 requests.

What resources qualify?

We can support resources that will be used for creating content on Wikipedia, and which we are able to purchase and get to you. While this is mostly books, we can cover other types of resources too. For specifics, see the relevant FAQ section.

Before making a request, please attempt to get access from your local library and The Wikipedia Library. If your request is in scope of the resource exchange, an unsuccessful request there is required before we can purchase the resource.

Which editors can make requests?

Any extended confirmed user – like you! – can make a request. Again, please double-check that the source is not available using the Wikipedia Library or at your local library before filing a request.

Some Wikimedia movement affiliates have similar programs. If your local affiliate has such a program, we ask that you use their program instead.

How do I make a request?

Use the form on Wikipedia:Resource support pilot to create a page for your resource request and transclude it on Wikipedia:Resource support pilot/Requests. Please let RAdimer-WMF know if you have any questions.

Alternatives

You can often get copies of journal articles or dissertations/theses by contacting the author(s) directly! Many authors love to share their research far and wide, and are happy to have their work in a Wikipedia article. We are a top-ten website, after all.
The Internet Archive (archive.org) give gratis access to a wide variety of sources, including many books.

← Previous "Serendipity"

In this issue

15 January 2026 (all comments)

Discuss this story

These comments are automatically transcluded from this article's talk page. To follow comments, add the page to your watchlist. If your comment has not appeared here, you can try purging the cache.

About time! Carrite (talk) 15:41, 15 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]
- Indeed. Much smaller pl wiki had this kind of program active for years. It ridcolous it took so long for this to appear in English. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 03:38, 16 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]
Other alternatives include Wikipedia:The Wikipedia Library which, via the "database access" facility, gives free access to many journals. --𝕁𝕄𝔽 (talk) 15:55, 15 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]
This program was specifically built to address requests that were outside TWL resources, but I agree TWL is awesome. I keep finding out about new ways to use it. Clovermoss🍀 (talk) 20:46, 18 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]
A lot of Internet Archive books are restricted, but you can check them out through WP:IAACCESS. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 🛸 16:32, 15 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Christ, that is good to know. That is probably the best tip of the year. Kudos. scope_creep^Talk 20:32, 15 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

I didn’t know about that! Time to pay the IA a visit :) Icepinner (Come to Hakurei Shrine!) 23:49, 15 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Same. Of course, there is the question of "ethics" to consider. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 03:42, 16 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Content editors need to be aware of the two places to get the absolute cheapest copies of books: BookFinder.com and AddAll.com. You can find even the most obscure books there, and at the very cheapest prices (often pennies on the dollar). The trick, at least for BookFinder, is to input the least amount of info, to get the largest range of results. Input the title without the opening "The" or "A"; omit subtitle; and input the author's LAST name only. That's it. Softlavender (talk) 20:37, 15 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]
This is useful, but I think it also bears mentioning that libraries are even better when you have access to them. I've been pleasantly surprised by the quality of my local public libraries for research, and university libraries are obviously one of the best resources around if you have access to them. _signed,Rosguill ^talk 18:32, 16 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Libraries are great, and if you can't find the item in your local library catalog, you can check whether they can get it for you through inter-library loan. Many libraries participate in wide-ranging inter-library loan systems. FactOrOpinion (talk) 23:26, 16 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

And let's not forget the very useful shadow libraries. I wouldn't have written half of the content I did (as well) without them (the other half is thanks to Wikipedia Library, our Resource Exchange, occasional grant from Polish Wikimedia chapter, IA library and my university access - but that's only the other half... ok, maybe a third?). _{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 01:50, 17 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

I've found that even university libraries don't always have what you need. I can borrow anything from a local university because I live in the area, but they only have two books about the history of Jehovah's Witnesses, and I have a much bigger personal collection. And my local libraries haven't been very useful on that front either, although there are a few options if I get interlibrary loans from Toronto. Clovermoss🍀 (talk) 20:48, 18 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know about Canada, but I've found it useful to consult the Library of Congress catalog in the US and then look in WorldCat for other interlibrary loan possibilities (I don't think the LoC lends out its books, at least when I got an LoC researcher's card, it was only for using materials on-site). FactOrOpinion (talk) 21:57, 18 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Ping me if you need a e-book that is available from UofT's library. I have direct access until end of April (and indirectly afterwards). OhanaUnited^{Talk page} 19:52, 25 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

My goto site is viaLibri.net, which aggregates a number of other sites, including BookFinder & others. (It doesn't do a good job with books listed on eBay, however, which I've found to be an affordable source for books.) -- llywrch (talk) 19:27, 27 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Imo a waste of donation money unless the book is also not available in Anna's Archive (the largest library/collection of accessible books humanity has built). --Prototyperspective (talk) 18:39, 19 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]
@Prototyperspective Agreed. The issue is the divide in community regarding ethics. Realistically we rely on this (as does nearly everyone, including academia), but to say so is controversial (particularly when it comes to stuff like WMF and finances), since it would be semi-endorsing it. It's kind of "don't ask, don't tell" or The Game (mind game) situation (those who know, know - and do, but we are not supposed to tell the others, shhhhh). Note we don't mention shadow libraries at WP:RX or even Help:Find sources (although we talk about how to bypass IP blocks and nudge-nudge claim disability to access IA content (see above)), so the line drawn is very zig-zagy IMHO. I'll believe I added a note about shadow libraries to one of these pages at some point, but I can't find it (I also don't recall where I did so). I'll add it to Help:Find sources - wonder how long it will survive. Sigh. _{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 04:46, 20 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]
I frequently avail myself of TWL as well as Anna's, I do have university database access as well but I use it less and less these days. Internet archive is also wonderful - so in my opinion this program is definitely best-used to acquire items otherwise impossible to source, but at the same time many have their own reasons why they would rather not rely on resources such as Anna's - one of which is practical, for example as I do a lot of editing from work, I can't justify bypassing the web filter to access that as I don't have a work-related reason to do so. What I would like to see is these purchases being made available more widely - digitally scanned whenever possible rather than shipped to individuals. It would make the investment much more productive if TWL-eligible editors all had access to these materials.ASUKITE 13:57, 24 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]
@Asukite Fair, but any sharing might encroach upon copyright. Fair use is very murky when it comes to lending - after all that's why IA is in trouble. I doubt WMF would want to do this, given the chilling effect of the usually successful efforts of copyright holders against libraries :( I am afraid we have to pay their extortion moneys and inefficiently buy copies one by one. (All that said, getting a searchable/ORCed book is always superior to print ones, IMHO). _{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 14:35, 24 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]
PS. What could and should be done, however, is that once someone has the book, they should declare it available for the community in the form of lending/sharing. That would be acceptable, on a person-to-person basis. I.e. what's not acceptable is WMF scanning a book and saying "any volunteer who wants it can download it from WMF". What's ok, is WMF scanning the book, sending it to me, and them me saying "if you want it, contact me". At minimum, the WMF is safe from trouble, and only I am sticking my neck, and with due caution such as not sharing the entire book but the requested pages (officially, at least), it's should be ok. I mean, this is what we do at Resource Exchange and similar places. _{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 14:38, 24 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]
That makes sense - I get the copyright issues as well. I could see a case for sending any material in a reusable box, maybe even including a shipping label that could be used. At the very least we know who has it so we can ask for a photo of whichever page we need (which is already a practice we have in place), so that's likely to help. ASUKITE 14:44, 24 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]
International shipping would be costly, and frankly, the system burdensome to use. Digital is the way to go here. _{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 14:46, 24 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

It's your Signpost. You can help us.

Home

About