Libraries and information services have long since been champions of equitable access to
information. As the popularity of open access grows, the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries,
Archives and Museums) sector investigates how to further develop their service and enrich
their collections through knowledge collaboration. With the increased production of
information, diverse range of publishable formats, and the world’s perpetual digitisation,
information services aim to utilise the varied information available through semantic linking,
centralising institutions’ disparate, but complementary, information. This is being
implemented in national libraries across the world with the adoption of Wikidata. This online
database can act as an integrated information cache, connecting institutions and creating
relationships between their collections. This essay will begin by examining what Wikidata is
and what benefits it can reap for information services. It will detail specific applications of
Wikidata including authority control, enriching metadata, interface accessibility and user
experience, through projects at Library of Congress, The National Library of Wales, and The
National Library of The Netherlands. There will be overlap between concepts and practices,
as they share the same focus and outcome of sharing previously siloed information to an
open-access, collaborative, centralised space to enrich collections and foster ease of
interoperability between institutions. The essay will conclude with reviewing how Wikidata
and a subsequent culture of connection has and will continue to shape the future of the
library.