Wikipedia:WikiProject Video games/Newsletter/20110406/Feature

Feature: Reference Library
'' Submitted by User:Guyinblack25

An article's success hinges on our ability to find quality, reliable sources. While video game topics rely heavily on online sources for citations, print sources are often considered among the better references for articles. Because print sources typically have to be physically in hand to be of any use, obtaining them can be difficult. To aid in efforts to use print sources, project members began consolidating resources into a centralized library.

History
Previously called the Magazine Archive, the project's Reference Library stemmed from two project discussions started by User:Hahnchen and User:Zeality, respectively. The discussions suggested that members with collections of magazines share the information among project members.

Following a third discussion, Zeality created the first version of the page in August 2006. Within a week, the listing grew substantially as members cataloged their collections. By October 2006, the page boasted over 200 magazines. The size grew so large, in fact, that it became too much for Wikipedia's servers to handle properly. This resulted in the page only partially loading, and sometimes not at all. To fix the issue, the listings were simply linked on the main page rather than transcluded.

In 2009, Guyinblack25 suggested that the archive be expanded to include books, which prompted further suggestions to include other useful non-magazine sources. The page was renamed "Reference Library" similar to what other WikiProjects had done. The archive has continued to expand with the help of project members. The most notable is the addition of the Online print archive, which is a listing of old web versions of print articles that have been archived by the Internet Archive. (See here for details.)

Using the library
Editors can search the archives using Wikipedia's search function. To get the most out of the library, multiple searches should be conducted. For example, a search for Chrono Trigger will yield useful results, but a search of one of the creator's names (Hironobu Sakaguchi) might provide interviews that include the game. Other search terms might be the game's developer, publisher, or genre depending on how prominent the title might be.

Once you've located a source in the archive, the next step is to contact the user that listed it. Typically this is done by posting on his or her talk page, or emailing them if they have that function set up. The editor will contact you with the information you requested or assist with the addition of the content to the relevant article.

The library also links to a number of online sources that editors can search and obtain the material themselves. Some sources are for a specific section of video games, like certain platforms. Be sure to check these if applicable.

Contributing
A project like this is only possible because members are willing to provide their resources to others. If you have any magazines, strategy guides, books, etc. then it would greatly benefit your fellow members to add to the listings in the library. To contribute, find the relevant subpages (for example, books, BradyGames stragey guides, or Edge magazine) and create a table row with the necessary information. If an entry already exists for an issue, please add your name under the contact column. Contributors typically add the template seen below to their userpages.

Other members sometimes go through our video game articles and add content related to a specific magazine feature. For example, the top 10 games of the year or a retrospective article about a series. Both adding to the library and directly to articles are helpful and benefit the project's goals.

Other useful archives
Editors have also created their own listings of useful references. Be sure to check them out when researching articles.
 * User:BOZ/Dragon video game reviews
 * User:SharkD/Top video games lists
 * User:Guyinblack25/Resources
 * User:84user/Sources