As resources have become ever more complicated in a digital world, it is evident that cataloging practices and the metadata standards we use to guide these practices are becoming more constraining. Recent developments within the library community can have a significant impact on serials cataloging and may help improve information retrieval for the end user. While the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) holds some promise for improving the representation of serials, linked data principles may further transform the way in which resources and the relationships between them are captured and presented to our users. By taking description out of the current record constraints, serials librarians will better be able to express the relationships between multiple versions of the same publication, and how a particular journal has changed over time. The linked data model also opens up many opportunities for the provision of value-added content to bibliographic descriptions.

Catalogers have a unique challenge to overcome in demonstrating the value of their services: the better they are at performing their work-making collections accessible and enabling user discovery-the more invisible their efforts are to users and administrators. Catalogers must participate more actively in the broader discussion and demonstration of library value undertaken by their colleagues, but to do so requires a framework and a common vocabulary shared by non-catalogers.

This article is a preliminary report on the work of the Canadian Linked Data Initiative (CLDI), a collaboration between five of Canada's largest research libraries, Library and Archives Canada, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, and Canadiana.org. Although still in its nascent stage, participating institutions are working together to advance the technical services divisions of our libraries in the area of linked data. Project working groups are making progress in five main areas: grant funding, digital collections, education and training, legacy metadata enhancement, and in the evaluation and adaptation of Bibliographic Framework Transition Initiative tools. By working across geographic and institutional boundaries, the CLDI aims to chart a path to a new age of technical services, one based on the foundation of Linked Open Data.

No abstract