January 20, 2022Benjamin Riesenberg No Comments

RDA, BIBFRAME, and Modeling Bibliographic Relationships

This is the second of of two posts¹ on the panel discussion “What role can RDA/RDF play in the transition to linked library data?” which took place during the fifth annual meeting of the BIBFRAME Workshop in Europe, and featured comments from five distinguished panelists. This post briefly summarizes and discusses comments provided by Dr. Sofia Zapounidou, a librarian at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and member of the Standing Committee of the IFLA Cataloguing Section.² She was asked to respond to the following question during the event:

RDA has been painstakingly aligned with the LRM; BIBFRAME³ has not. One of the most talked-about areas of concern is the absence of an expression entity in BIBFRAME. Could this, or other incompatibilities between RDA and BIBFRAME, have significant impacts?

February 18, 2020Benjamin Riesenberg No Comments

A Very Brief Overview of Past Semantic Web Research at the University of Washington Libraries

2012:

Collaboration between the University of Washington (UW) Libraries and the UW iSchool launches a Semantic Web Investigator Group (SWIG)
SWIG initiates project to express the Newspaper Genre List as a Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS) vocabulary (RDF available at https://doi.org/10.6069/uwlib.55.d.5)
UW Libraries convenes a campus-wide meeting with linked data stakeholders

2012-2014:

Cataloging and Metadata Librarian Theodore Gerontakos serves as Co-Chair of the Linked Library Data Interest Group (LITA / ALCTS)

2014-2016:

UW Libraries’ Cataloging and Metadata Services (CAMS) staff provide feedback on BIBFRAME 1 and 2 through Library of Congress (LOC) listservs and GitHub code repositories
CAMS staff prepare BIBFRAME training materials and offer sessions
100+ MARC records are converted to BIBFRAME 1 and reviewed by cataloging staff
CAMS staff create an RDA Input Form as a proof-of-concept, demonstrating output of both RDA-in-RDF and BIBFRAME from input data

2016:

LoC releases BIBFRAME 2
Test conversion of MARC records to BIBFRAME 2
Comparative testing of searches on BIBFRAME data converted from MARC and digital-collections XML
CAMS publishes a mapping of BIBCO Standard Record RDA elements to BIBFRAME 2.0
First directed fieldwork in semantic web standards and data by a University of Washington iSchool student
CAMS publishes draft best practices for language tags in bibliographic linked data

2017:

CAMS XML server expanded to include an RDF triplestore for training use
SPARQL Study Group convened at the UW Libraries
UW Libraries begins participation as a Linked Data for Production: Pathway to Implementation (LD4P2) project subgrantee

November 16, 2019Benjamin Riesenberg 1 Comment

Library Linked-Data Readings: Starting Up

The idea of a first reading list for anyone coming into library linked-data work is not realistic, for obvious reasons. We all show up with different backgrounds, skill sets, and learning styles, and this means that we’ll find different resources more and less helpful. For this reason I should say a little bit about my background as it relates to library linked-data work.

When I started my MLIS program I had no real programming experience. I did have an interest in computing, and maybe because of this, I found myself focusing on digital collections and digital preservation fairly early on. This put me in a challenging spot–I felt I had some catching up to do in terms of technical skills. I began to gain these through coursework and hands-on learning, but these things take time, and the process is ongoing. My approach to linked-data work–and this reading list–have been shaped by the fact that I’m a relative beginner.

Also, I selected from items I’ve already read to create this (very short) list, and I haven’t read everything on the subject! I hope to hear back from readers willing to share their experiences with resources not included here.