Linked Data for Libraries, Archives and Museums: How to Clean, Link and Publish Your Metadata by Seth van Hooland and Ruben Verborgh (review)

[Book Review] Linked Data for Libraries, Archives and Museums: How to Clean, Link and Publish Your Metadata, Seth van Hooland and Ruben Verborgh. Chicago: American Library Association, 2014. 224 pages. $115.00 (paperback). (ISBN 0-8389-1251-6

Linked Data in Libraries: A Case Study of Harvesting and Sharing Bibliographic Metadata with BIBFRAME

By way of a case study this paper illustrates and evaluates the Bibliographic Framework (or BIBFRAME) as means for harvesting and sharing bibliographic metadata over the Web for libraries. BIBFRAME is an emerging framework developed by the Library of Congress for bibliographic description based on Linked Data. Much like Semantic Web, the goal of Linked Data is to make Web “data aware” and transform the existing Web of documents into a Web of data. Linked Data leverages the existing Web infrastructure and allows linking and sharing of structured data for human and machine consumption. The BIBFRAME model attempts to contextualize the Linked Data technology for libraries. Library applications and systems contain high-quality structured metadata but this data is generally static in its presentation and seldom integrated with other internal metadata sources or linked to external Web resources. With BIBFRAME existing disparate library metadata sources such as catalogs and digital collections can be harvested and integrated over the Web. In addition, bibliographic data enriched with Linked Data could offer richer navigational control and access points for users. With Linked Data principles, metadata from libraries could also become harvestable by search engines, transforming dormant catalogs and digital collections into active knowledge repositories. Thus experimenting with Linked Data using existing bibliographic metadata holds the potential to empower libraries to harness the reach of commercial search engines to continuously discover, navigate, and obtain new domain specific knowledge resources on the basis of their verified metadata. The initial part of the paper introduces BIBFRAME and discusses Linked Data in the context of libraries. The final part of this paper outlines a step-by-step process for implementing BIBFRAME with existing library metadata

Learning By Example: Designing and Developing Linked Data Application

According to constructivist theory of learning, new knowledge is acquired on the basis of what is already known by learners. Learning to build Linked Data applications challenges traditional web technologists to think differently at every stage of the design and development process, starting from data modeling all the way to presenting data on the Linked Data web. Thus to understand and adopt an emerging and transformative web technology such as Linked Data, it is useful for web technologists to learn it in the context of prevalent web tools and technologies. This paper presents a comparative and illustrative example of designing and developing Linked Data application using the traditional and familiar LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL and PHP) web technology stack

Wanted: The Five Most Sought-after Educational Apps to Enhance Learning of Oral Traditions in a Digital Age

The best practices of pedagogy, curriculum and instructional design in the West have primarily evolved from textual traditions. With the use of digital technologies becoming indispensible in education, there is an opportunity for our educational enterprise to share and apply its best practices more broadly including ethnocultural educational settings. Doing so will not only foster new partnerships but will also empower educators who work with non-textual knowledge resources such as oral traditions. In this paper I will discuss how my experience of working with ginans, a collection of sacred religious hymns of the Shia Ismaili Muslim community, has informed my practice and perspective as a practitioner-researcher. More specifically I will describe the five most sought-after educational technologies or apps identified by young ethnic learners in today’s digital age

Collections Digitization Framework: A Service-oriented Approach to Digitization in Academic Libraries

With advances in information technologies, academic libraries are now in a position to offer collections digitization services beyond campus communities. By mobilizing digitization to off-campus communities, academic libraries can reposition themselves as responsive and relevant in the face of a changing digital services landscape. This will also help academic libraries create unique opportunities to access and share hidden knowledge embedded within local and remote communities with rich intellectual traditions. This article proposes a service-oriented framework for academic libraries to reimagine and mobilize collections digitization as part of broader library services. The proposed Collections Digitization Framework is based on the Service Framework for Digital Libraries developed by the Digital Library Federation, whereby digitization activities have been formalized into discrete processes and functions. The issues and challenges that academic libraries may face in mobilizing digitization services are also discussed in the context of a collaborative community digitization initiative undertaken by two Canadian academic libraries

Tradition and Technology: A Design-Based Prototype of an Online Ginan Semantization Tool

The heritage of ginans of the Nizari Ismaili community comprises over 1,000 individual hymn-like poems of varying lengths and languages. The ginans were originally composed to spread the teachings of the Satpanth Ismaili faith and served as scriptural texts that guided the normative understanding of the community in South Asia. The emotive melodies of the ginans continue to enchant the members of the community in the diaspora who do not necessarily understand the language of the ginans. The language of the ginans is mixed and borrows vocabulary from Indo-Aryan and Perso-Arabic dialects. With deliberate and purposeful use of information technology, the online tool blends the Western best practices of language learning with the traditional transmission methods and materials of the Ismaili community. This study is based on the premise that for the teachings of the ginans to survive in the Euro-American diaspora, the successive generations must learn and understand the vocabulary of the ginans. The process through which humans learn and master vocabulary is called semantization, which refers to the process of learning and understand various senses and uses of words in a language. To this end, a sample ginan corpus was chosen and semantically analyzed to develop an online ginan lexicon. This lexicon was then used to enrich ginan texts with online glosses to facilitate semantization of ginan vocabulary. The design based-research methodology for prototyping the tool comprised two design iterations of analysis, design, and review. In the first iteration, the initial design of the prototype was based on the multidisciplinary literature review and an in-depth semantic analysis of ginan materials. The initial design was then reviewed by community ginan experts and teachers to inform the next design iteration. In the second design iteration, the initial design was enhanced into a functional prototype by adding features based on the expert suggestions as well as the needs of community learners gathered by surveying a convenience sample of 515 community members across the globe. The analysis of the survey data revealed that over 90% of the survey participants preferred English materials for learning and understanding the language of the ginans. In addition, having online access to ginan materials was expressed as a dire need for the community to engage with the ginans. The development and dissemination of curriculum-based educational programs and supporting resources for the ginans emerged as the most urgent and unmet expectations of the community. The study also confirmed that the wide availability of an online ginan learning tool, such as the one designed in this study, is highly desirable by English-speaking community members who want to learn and understand the tradition and teachings of ginans. However, such a tool is only a part of the solution for fostering sustainable community engagement for the preservation of ginans. To ensure that the tradition is carried forward by the future generations with compassion and understanding, the community institutions must make ginans an educational priority and ensure educational resources for ginans are widely available to community members

Digital heritage: Preserving and sharing Saskatchewan’s music.

The Canadian province of Saskatchewan, located just east of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, has a rich and fascinating musical history. In order to preserve and share Saskatchewan’s musical heritage the University of Saskatchewan has recently undertaken a collaborative project to digitally showcase its unique Saskatchewan Music Collection (SMC) housed at its Education Library in Saskatoon. The SMC features recordings and sheet music that have a Saskatchewan connection, i.e., composer, performer, or subject matter. It consists of mainly popular music, encompassing country, folk, ethnic, pop, rock, alternative, rap, among other genres, in addition to classical and jazz. This poster presentation will not only present Saskatchewan’s most comprehensive collection of multi-format music objects but will also bring to light a unique aspect of Canada’s musical heritage. In addition, the SMC poster presentation will provide a sneak preview of the University of Saskatchewan’s forthcoming digital showcase, an online exhibit that will display the remarkable musical lineage, popular culture, and social history of the province of Saskatchewan, including a large collection of popular, religious, Aboriginal, school and community group music. While many libraries and cultural organization are now undertaking projects to digitize local music collections, these often focus on digitized images (scores and sheet music) rather than sound. The SMC digitization project aims to reproduce the various multimedia elements of the physical collection, by way of streaming audio access to recordings, and high-quality digital images of liner notes, recording covers, labels and sheet music. When fully developed, users will be able to explore the collection remotely, through web and mobile devices, dramatically increasing access to the collection, which was once limited to in-library browsing and use. To provide multiple access points and encourage serendipitous discovery, the digital files have been fully integrated with Library’s Online Public Catalogue (OPAC) as well as the Library’s resource discovery system, USearch. Through this poster presentation, participants of the IAML 2012 conference will have the opportunity to experience streaming Saskatchewan music, interact with the digital collection and interface, and also learn about the challenges and achievements encountered during the conception and implementation of the SMC project

When tradition meets technology: Curating purposeful digital collections and tools for learning oral traditions

Peer ReviewedAn essential prerequisite for ethnocultural and diaspora communities to preserve their oral traditions is the willful acceptance and learning of these traditions by successive generations. Thus transmission of oral traditions is of utmost importance for such communities living in the West. While community elders may feel duty-bound to pass on their knowledge using traditional face-to-face approach, community youth often perceive this approach as old-fashioned and inefficient. The in-person transmission of oral traditions is also constrained by time and geography, thus making it even more challenging for learners to remain motivated and engaged. Today’s digital age presents opportunities for communities with rich oral heritage to teach and learn traditional knowledge, especially oral traditions, in ways not possible in the past. This paper is based on a community-based collaborative research project undertaken at the University of Saskatchewan Library in Canada to develop and implement a framework to digitally curate collections and tools for learning the oral tradition of ginan (gnostic and devotional hymns) of the Ismaili community. Whether in university or community, educators and elders must ensure that they continue to meet the unique and changing needs of learners and keep them motivated and engaged. This paper will showcase how digital curation is purposefully utilized to enhance and support learning of oral traditions

Transcendental Metadata: A Collaborative Schema for Electronic Resource Description

Academic libraries are attempting to manage growing collections of diverse electronic resources in a chaotic environment of evolving standards and systems. The transition from a print-dominated resource environment to an electronic one has complicated the decision-making process. Current discourse primarily focuses on meeting patron needs and has distracted researchers from looking at librarian needs. The authors discovered that librarians want a better understanding of the nature, extent, and diversity of electronic resources for decision making, assessment, and accountability. Drawing from the collaborative methods and design philosophies of other disciplines, this paper outlines an approach to leveraging Web 2.0 philosophy and Business Intelligence techniques to address these needs. This approach will serve as a guide for academic librarians to transcend their current practices in order to develop innovative, collaborative, and holistic approaches to the joint stewardship of library electronic resource collections

Charting the Future of the Ginans: Needs and Expectations of the Ismaili Youth in the Western Diaspora

Objective – The heritage of ginans of the Nizari Ismaili community comprises hymn-like poems in various Indic dialects that were transmitted orally. Despite originating in the Indian subcontinent, the ginans continue to be cherished by the community in the Western diaspora. As part of a study at the University of Saskatchewan, an online survey of the Ismaili community was conducted in 2020 to gather sentiments toward the ginans in the Western diaspora. This article presents the results of the survey to explore the future of the ginans from the perspective of the English-speaking Ismaili community members.Methods – An online survey was developed to solicit the needs of the global Ismaili community using convenience sampling. The survey attracted 515 participants from over 20 countries around the world. The English-speaking members of the Ismaili community between 18 to 44 years of age living in Western countries were designated as the target group for this study. The survey responses of the target group (n = 71) were then benchmarked against all other respondents categorized as the general group (n = 444).Results – Overall, 85% of the respondents of the survey were from the diaspora and 15% were from the countries of South Asia including India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The survey found that 97% of the target group respondents preferred English materials for learning and understanding the ginans compared to 91% in the general group. Having access to online ginan materials was expressed as a dire need by respondents in the two groups. The survey also revealed that over 90% of the respondents preferred to access private and external ginan websites rather than the official community institutional websites. In addition, the survey validated the unified expectations of the community to see ginans become an educational and scholarly priority of its institutions.Conclusion – Based on the survey results, it can be concluded that the respondents in the target group are educated citizens of English-speaking countries and regard the heritage of ginans to be an important part of their lives. They value the emotive and performative aspects of the tradition that help them express their devotion and solidarity to the Ismaili faith and community. They remain highly concerned about the future of the ginans and fear that the teachings of the ginans may be lost due to lack of attention and action by the community institutions. The development and dissemination of curriculum-based educational programs and resources for the ginans emerged as the most urgent and unmet expectation among the survey respondents. The article also identifies actions that the community institutions can take to ensure continued transmission and preservation of the ginans in the Western diaspora