Improving the presentation of library data using FRBR and Linked data

When a library end-user searches the online catalogue for works by a particular author, he will typically get a long list that contains different translations and editions of all the books by that author, sorted by title or date of issue. As an attempt to make some order in this chaos, the Pode project has applied a method of automated FRBRizing based on the information contained in MARC records. The project has also experimented with RDF representation to demonstrate how an author’s complete production can be presented as a short and lucid list of unique works, which can easily be browsed by their different expressions and manifestations. Furthermore, by linking instances in the dataset to matching or corresponding instances in external sets, the presentation has been enriched with additional information about authors and works

National Libraries and the Semantic Web: Requirements and Applications

Semantics are an integral part of bibliographic (meta-)data including authority files. So far, however, there have been only rudimentary attempts to make those data visible on the Semantic Web. This paper presents a sketch of what (national) libraries will need to supply in order to allow for broad use of their data on the Semantic Web. The main points are persistent URIs for all entities, a set of welldefined vocabularies to describe the data, and the provision of query interfaces suitable for the Semantic Web. In the final section three current projects from the German National Library are presented, in which the semantics of bibliographic data is presented using Semantic Web techniques

Evaluation of Mappings from MARC to Linked Data

The purpose of this study is to assess the quality and compatibility of library linked data (LLD) schemas in use or proposed for library resources. Linked Data (LD) has the potential to provide high quality metadata on the web with the ability to incorporate existing structured data from MARC via a mapping.  Researchers selected representative libraries such as Harvard University Library, LC BIBFRAME (Library of Congress Bibliographic Framework), OCLC (Online Computer Library Canter) WorldCat, and National Library of Spain. For LD frameworks, four resources are matched into specific categories with MARC (MAchine-Readable Cataloging) tags so that it could be retrieved in both OCLC LD and BIBFRAME with the conversion tool at bibframe.org: (1) Classic, ebook,and fiction, (2) multiple authors and part of a series, and non-fiction, (3) varying title, translation, and fiction, and (4) sub title, non-fiction. This study revealed that the choices and elements of each library made in local decisions might bring interoperability issues for LD services due to the quality metadata creation issues

BIBFRAME Transformation for Enhanced Discovery

With support from an internal innovation grant of the University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign, researchers transformed and enriched nearly 300,000 e-book records in their library catalog from Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC) records to Bibliographic Framework (BIBFRAME) linked data resources. Researchers indexed the BIBFRAME resources online, and created two search interfaces for the discovery of BIBFRAME linked data. One result of the grant was the incorporation of BIBFRAME resources within an experimental Bento view of the linked library data for e-books. The end goal of this project is to provide enhanced discovery of library data, bringing like sets of content together in contemporary and easy to understand views assisting users in locating sets of associated bibliographic metadata.University of Illinois Library Innovation FundOpe

PAV ontology: provenance, authoring and versioning

Provenance is a critical ingredient for establishing trust of published scientific content. This is true whether we are considering a data set, a computational workflow, a peer-reviewed publication or a simple scientific claim with supportive evidence. Existing vocabularies such as DC Terms and the W3C PROV-O are domain-independent and general-purpose and they allow and encourage for extensions to cover more specific needs. We identify the specific need for identifying or distinguishing between the various roles assumed by agents manipulating digital artifacts, such as author, contributor and curator. We present the Provenance, Authoring and Versioning ontology (PAV): a lightweight ontology for capturing just enough descriptions essential for tracking the provenance, authoring and versioning of web resources. We argue that such descriptions are essential for digital scientific content. PAV distinguishes between contributors, authors and curators of content and creators of representations in addition to the provenance of originating resources that have been accessed, transformed and consumed. We explore five projects (and communities) that have adopted PAV illustrating their usage through concrete examples. Moreover, we present mappings that show how PAV extends the PROV-O ontology to support broader interoperability. The authors strived to keep PAV lightweight and compact by including only those terms that have demonstrated to be pragmatically useful in existing applications, and by recommending terms from existing ontologies when plausible. We analyze and compare PAV with related approaches, namely Provenance Vocabulary, DC Terms and BIBFRAME. We identify similarities and analyze their differences with PAV, outlining strengths and weaknesses of our proposed model. We specify SKOS mappings that align PAV with DC Terms.Comment: 22 pages (incl 5 tables and 19 figures). Submitted to Journal of Biomedical Semantics 2013-04-26 (#1858276535979415). Revised article submitted 2013-08-30. Second revised article submitted 2013-10-06. Accepted 2013-10-07. Author proofs sent 2013-10-09 and 2013-10-16. Published 2013-11-22. Final version 2013-12-06. http://www.jbiomedsem.com/content/4/1/3

From MARC silos to Linked Data silos?

Libraries are opening up their bibliographic metadata as Linked Data. However, they have all used different data models for structuring their bibliographic data. Some are using a FRBR-based model with several layers of entities while others use flat, record-oriented data models. The proliferation of data models limits the reusability of bibliographic data. In effect, libraries have moved from MARC silos to Linked Data silos of incompatible data models. Data sets can be difficult to combine and reuse. Small modelling differences may be overcome by schema mappings, but it is not clear that interoperability has improved overall. We present a survey of published bibliographic Linked Data, the data models proposed for representing bibliographic data as RDF, and tools used for conversion from MARC. Also, the approach of the National Library of Finland is discussed. Seit einiger Zeit stellen Bibliotheken ihre bibliografischen Metadadaten verstärkt offen in Form von Linked Data zur Verfügung. Dabei kommen jedoch ganz unterschiedliche Modelle für die Strukturierung der bibliografischen Daten zur Anwendung. Manche Bibliotheken verwenden ein auf FRBR basierendes Modell mit mehreren Schichten von Entitäten, während andere flache, am Datensatz orientierte Modelle nutzen. Der Wildwuchs bei den Datenmodellen erschwert die Nachnutzung der bibliografischen Daten. Im Ergebnis haben die Bibliotheken die früheren MARC-Silos nur mit zueinander inkompatiblen Linked-Data-Silos vertauscht. Deshalb ist es häufig schwierig, Datensets miteinander zu kombinieren und nachzunutzen. Kleinere Unterschiede in der Datenmodellierung lassen sich zwar durch Schema Mappings in den Griff bekommen, doch erscheint es fraglich, ob die Interoperabilität insgesamt zugenommen hat. Der Beitrag stellt die Ergebnisse einer Studie zu verschiedenen veröffentlichten Sets von bibliografischen Daten vor. Dabei werden auch die unterschiedlichen Modelle betrachtet, um bibliografische Daten als RDF darzustellen, sowie Werkzeuge zur Erzeugung von entsprechenden Daten aus dem MARC-Format. Abschließend wird der von der Finnischen Nationalbibliothek verfolgte Ansatz behandelt

Implications of BIBFRAME and Linked Data for Libraries and Publishers

This article considers the current situation of transition from the machine-readable cataloging (MARC) formats to the Bibliographic Framework Initiative (BIBFRAME) data model, and the further step to organize and publish catalog information in the emerging linked data technology. The definition and development of new tools to realize the required changes are discussed and an outline provided of the steps being taken by Casalini Libri to ensure the compliance of its bibliographical production and services with the new standards and offer assistance to libraries and publishers in their implementation

Volume 38, Number 2, June 2018 OLAC Newsletter

Digitized June 2018 issue of the OLAC Newsletter