Wikipedia Day is an annual celebration of Wikipedia’s birthday, and in 2026 this online encyclopedia turns 25. City Tech Library is thrilled to be working with Wikimedia NYC to host this celebration at City Tech. Weather forced us to reschedule, and we’re now looking forward to this event on March 28, 2026.
Together we will explore the past, present, and future of the free knowledge movement, and celebrate all the people, communities and ideas that make Wikipedia possible. The day will include keynote speakers, family friendly activities, lightning talks, great food, and much more.
This fall, students in Professor Robin Michals’ Photography I class have been contributing images to Wikimedia Commons with support from CUNY’s Wikimedia in Residence, Richard Knipel. We are so excited to see their work online!
All their photo uploads can be explored on the Contributions from Communication Design students, CUNY City Tech category page. In addition to being available on the Commons under Creative Commons licenses, it’s exciting to see these already being incorporated into wikidata items and wikipedia articles in various languages.
A screenshot of the Wikimedia Commons page for “Contributions from Communication Design students, CUNY City Tech”
I visited one of their classes to chat with them about the impact of their contributions to Wikimedia Commons and to hear their thoughts on the images they added. Check out some student reflections on their images below:
Kylan04, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Of Fort Greene Park inAutumn, Kylan Whittaker explained, “My mom used to take me there a lot when I was a kid, so I made a lot of good memories in that park.”
Photonatomist 00, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Wikipedia user Photonatomist explained that Crotona Park Pond is “vast” and feels like “a calm place to be.”
Gsnur3, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Nurcan Akca says of I.S.125 Thomas J. McCann Intermediate School: It was my middle school!
JAMMIN8905!, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Rodrigue says of Canarsie Skate Park: “That place is special because it’s close to home and it’s a large place where friends and family can come together to have fun. “
When I asked students what it means to them that their work is now on Wikimedia Commons, they had a few more thoughts to share:
To me it feels nice that I can share a part of my life to others and basically create an invitation to others to have similar experiences as me.
It makes me proud knowing that my work is being used in Wikipedia commons. It scales out my work and makes me really grasp how impactful my photography can be.
Workshop description: What is the role of bibliometric analysis in our research, and how can data visualization with VOSviewer play a key role in analyzing bibliometric data?
This workshop will provide a brief introduction to the benefits of data visualization for bibliometric analysis before diving into one tool that supports this work. City Tech Librarian Jen Hoyer will guide attendees through use of VOSviewer, an open source data visualization tool, to demonstrate how bibliometric analysis can help examine questions including: what are the main topics or research areas in a field? How do these relate to each other? How has a specific field developed over time?
After an introduction to bibliometric analysis and data visualization, we’ll dive into VOSviewer and its core features. Attendees will have an opportunity to watch demonstrations of the tool in use and to walk through the steps of creating visualizations themselves with a sample dataset (provided).
Attendees should download and install the free VOSviewer software in advance of the workshop if they wish to follow along on their own computer; this is encouraged but not mandatory. Versions for various operating systems can be downloaded athttps://www.vosviewer.com/download.
Our Archives Week Open House this year (read more about over here!) included a display of book stamps that help tell the history of City Tech Library. While you can read more about our library’s history on our website, we’re sharing some of our display here in digital form.
Photo by Wanett Clyde
This project grew out of our interest in collecting the various book stamps used by our library and by the institutions and libraries that have merged into what is now NYC College of Technology (known colloquially as City Tech). While we weren’t able to locate stamps for some of the earliest versions of City Tech Library, we found more than we expected: many library addresses we didn’t know even about and library branches we hadn’t heard of.
Tracing the history of our library has helped us think about the various ways libraries have served students over time, and we get a glimpse of past iterations of library services through the illustrations also on display in this room. These illustrations are from City Tech Library’s archive; we are excited to keep exploring and learn more about what they were initially used for.
As part of the trade schools movement, the New York Trade School (founded as The Technical Schools of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and later known as Voorhees Technical Institute) was part of a larger movement by union leaders and philanthropists to educate workers and provide educational opportunities to immigrants. Voorhees Technical Institute was located on West 41st Street in Manhattan, in a building that still exists near the Port Authority Bus Terminal. While our library no longer has books from its earliest iterations as the New York Trade School, several books from various branches of the Voorhees Technical Institute were incorporated into our collections.
Book stamp for Vortech Library, Voorhees Technical Institute
The New York State Institute of Applied Arts and Sciences was founded in 1946 under legislation that set aside funds to support returning GIs following World War II; classes were initially held in the old Public School 15 building in downtown Brooklyn. In the 1950s, classes were also held at the Hotel St. George at 111 Hicks St, Brooklyn. The library was, for at least some of this time, located in a building at 300 Pearl Street in downtown Brooklyn.
Library stamp for New York City Community College of Applied Arts & Sciences
New York City Community College, also known as the Community College of Applied Arts and Sciences, grew from the small set of technical programs offered when it was founded as The New York State Institute of Applied Arts and Sciences to boast more than 10,000 graduates by 1963. And while it was part of the State University of New York system in the early 1960s, known for a time as SUNY Tech, it became part of the CUNY system mid-decade. The library had several locations during the lifespan of New York City Community College: in its previous location at 300 Pearl Street; at 12 Franklin Street; on Livingston Street; and at the current address, 300 Jay Street.
Library Stamp for New York City Community College Library, showing an address change from 12 Franklin Ave to 300 Pearl Street.
Book stamp for the Voorhees Branch of NYC Community College
Book stamp for NYC Community College
Following New York City’s funding crisis of the 1970s and cuts broadly to community colleges across the city, the school’s name was changed to New York City Technical College in 1980 and its charter was amended to designate it an “urban technical institute,” with permission to grant 4-year degrees as well as associates degrees.
A book stamp for New York City Technical College Library
The name of City Tech was formally changed to New York City College of Technology in July 2002, to emphasize its high-tech workforce development focus and to distinguish it from other technical schools.
Stamp marking a book as the property of the library at NYC College of Technology
This project was compiled by Prof. Jen Hoyer and Prof. Kel Karpinski
On November 6th, City Tech Library hosted Wikimedia NYC for an editathon connected to the NYC400 campaign.
NYC400 is a project undertaken by Wikimedia NYC this year to focus on impactful New Yorkers and NYC neighborhoods that deserve a place on Wikipedia but hadn’t previously been featured or need to be updated.
Approximately 20 people joined in to edit. Highlights of NYC400 editing projects that attendees undertook include:
A new Wikipedia article about Rosetta Gaston, a Black historian and community advocate in Brownsville, Brooklyn and the namesake of Mother Gaston Boulevard.
A new Wikipedia article about Quashawam, a sunksquaw of the Montauketts in the late-17th century on eastern Long Island.
Interested in learning more about teaching with Wikipedia? Join us for a workshop with representatives from the nonprofit support organization Wiki Education. We’ll examine the role of Wikipedia in reflecting and shaping knowledge, hear feedback from faculty and student participants, and explore how the assignment empowers students to fill Wikipedia’s content gaps while developing their research, writing, and digital literacy skills. The session will include an overview of Wiki Education’s free support, such as customizable course plans, student trainings, digital tools, staff guidance, and more. Together we’ll talk through the possibilities for your courses and how to get started today!
By Wikipedia 20 symbols by Jasmina El Bouamraoui and Karabo Poppy Moletsane – Wikimedia Foundation, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=113591409
City Tech Faculty are invited to Wiki on Campus, September 9, 2025, 2-4pm
A drop-in event for City Tech faculty who are curious about making use of Wikipedia and other Wikiprojects in the classroom.
Refreshments from 2-3pm; short presentation and discussion at 3pm.
Are you teaching a class related to New York City history, geography, or culture? Interested in how your students might take part in this event? Or, just curious about other wikipedia events coming up this academic year? Stop by!
Join us for refreshments, discussion, and a short presentation on what the role of Wikipedia and other Wikiprojects can look like at City Tech. Jen Hoyer, Technical Services and Electronic Resources Librarian, will share an overview of upcoming wiki-related events planned at City Tech Library over the 2025-26 academic year, including a Wikicurious event for beginners in November 2025 focused on learning about Wikidata and contributing to the NYC400 editing campaign.
Attendees will be welcome to share their own experiences and questions about Wikipedia in the classroom, and there will also be a brief introduction to resources available through WikiEdu. We’ll also be joined by Richard Knipel, CUNY’s Wikimedian in Residence, for a quick look at how Wikipedia has been used on other CUNY campuses to create and share knowledge.
City Tech Library has access to AVON (Academic Video Online), which now includes a Legal Series channel featuring short films that cover the basics for students pursuing legal and paralegal careers.
All of these films are less than 11 minutes long; explore them by clicking on this link. If you are off campus, you’ll be prompted to log in with your CUNYfirst ID before getting started.
City Tech Library has trial access to Archival Films & Newsreels, a database from Films on Demand, for 30 days. This streaming video collection contains over 1000 films released from the late 19th century through the 21st century. Each film contains a transcript as well as a link to related films. Browse by subject or search for your favorite film!
Getting started: head to https://cityte.ch/arcfilms and use your CUNY login if prompted in order to access the database. From the landing page, click “Archival Films & Newsreels Collection”.
Note: You may be taken directly to a Health & Medicine sub-collection of only 6 films. If that happens, click the “Films on Demand” logo at the top of your browser to go back to the homepage.
Browse the collection: An expandable menu at the top left of your screen will allow you to browse by time period or by subject.
Let us know what you think: We would love faculty feedback on how this database could support your teaching and research. Please share your thoughts through this form.
City Tech Library now provides access to Gale Books and Authors, a reader’s advisory database that makes finding your next great read much less challenging. With fun ways to browse, an intuitive design, read-alikes, reviews, award winners and themed book lists, and more this resource answers the age-old question, “What do I read next?”
To access the database, City Tech faculty, staff, and students can click on https://cityte.ch/booksauthors. If you are off campus or off campus wifi networks, you’ll be asked to log in with your CUNY login before proceeding to the database website.
Questions? Need a hand getting started? Don’t be shy to Ask a Librarian.
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