The definition and purpose of crowdsourcing and its relevance to libraries is discussed with particular reference to the Australian Newspapers service http://newspapers.nla.gov.au, FamilySearch http://familysearchindexing.org, Wikipedia http://wikipedia.org, Distributed Proofreaders http://www.pgdp.net, Galaxy Zoo http://www.galaxyzoo.org and The Guardian MP’s Expenses Scandal http://mps-expenses.guardian.co.uk. These services have harnessed thousands of digital volunteers who transcribe, create, enhance and correct text, images and archives. Known facts about crowdsourcing are presented and helpful tips and strategies for libraries beginning to crowdsource are given.
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Rose Holley (2010) studied this question.