The Wikimedia Outreach folks (the blame rests mostly with Frank Schulenburg, although most of this particular effort was kicked off by SpiderHands herself) crafted a FAQ for Librarians.

Will the people who use my library find material on Wikipedia that's objectionable, or unsuitable for children?

There is definitely material available on Wikipedia that is potentially objectionable, or that people might find unsuitable for children. We know that because, over the years, we have received many requests to delete material from Wikipedia, on the grounds that it is objectionable to a particular religion, culture, nation, ideology or individual.

Wikimedia policy has never called for material to be deleted purely on the basis that it is, or may be, objectionable, and our projects contain caveats to that effect. We believe that individual adults are best placed to decide for themselves what information they want to seek out, and we see our role as making available all knowledge, not solely such knowledge as is universally deemed acceptable.

It's also true that the internet is generally rife with offensive material of all kinds, and there is nothing on Wikipedia that isn't also easily available via search engines. If you don't want children accessing inappropriate material on Wikipedia, it may be that the issue is best addressed via a solution that encompasses the entire internet, rather than any solution that's specific to Wikipedia.


How can I keep children using my library from stumbling across material that is not suitable for them?

We are probably not best-placed to help you with this. As a librarian, you probably know a lot more about it than we do, and you probably have resources available that are more authoritative than anything we could tell you.

The Wikimedia Outreach folks (the blame rests mostly with Frank Schulenburg, although most of this particular effort was kicked off by SpiderHands herself) crafted a FAQ for Librarians.