Positioning Library Data for the Semantic Web: Recent Developments in Resource Description

Abstract

Recent developments in resource description standards and technologies have aimed at moving cataloging practice to the web environment and making library data available for exchange and reuse on the Semantic Web. As the library community looks outward and forward, library standards and technologies are converging with Web practices in three areas: content description, data models, and data exchange. This article captures the essence of the core standards and technologies that underlie the daily work of practitioners of library service, including Resource Description and Access (RDA), Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR), the Linked Data environment, Resource Description Framework (RDF), and the Bibliographic Framework Transition Initiative (BIBFRAME). The article will discuss their intersections with existing practice during this period of transition, as well as their potential impacts on the future cataloging practice.

Linked data for libraries: Creating a global knowledge space, a systematic literature review

“…Dunsire et al discussed the future of universal bibliographic control in the context of the Semantic Web [73]. Szeto discussed the potential impacts on the future cataloguing practice, such as RDA, FRBR and the linked data environment [74]. Laurence [75] analysed the efforts by the Library of Congress to convert the authorities of its records into linked data.…”

From the web of bibliographic data to the web of bibliographic meaning: structuring, interlinking and validating ontologies on the semantic web

“…The main criticisms about the RDF publications of bibliographic standards, such as ISBD (International Standard Bibliographic Description), RDA (Resource Description and Access), MARC and BIBFRAME, were reviewed in our previous paper (Patrício, Cordeiro and Ramos, 2019). Regarding ISBD and MARC LOD representations, conceptual problems identified in the bibliography can be briefly summarised as the lack of a model based on entities and relationships, as it is typical of the Semantic Web, contrasting with the flat model underlying the bibliographic record as a text (Svensson, 2013;Willer and Dunsire, 2013;Szeto, 2013).…”

“…These limitations motivated the development of new standard bibliographic ontologies born in the Semantic Web context such as RDA and BIBFRAME. According to several authors (e.g., Szeto, 2013;Coyle, 2016), RDA is completely compatible with the Semantic Web because it implements FRBR as a multi-entity conceptual model. BIBFRAME also appears among the ontologies most compatible with the open Web because, unlike FRBR, it uses class hierarchy and does not define disjunctions between classes (Coyle, 2016).…”

Formalizing Enrichment Mechanisms for Bibliographic Ontologies in the Semantic Web

“…This not only implies a considerable duplication of metadata but also relies on textual data (textual values) instead of Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI). Although having representations in RDF, MARC formats have structural limitations to adapt to the Web environment because they are based on coding standards older than 40 years and originally designed to automate the creation and printing of catalogue cards [18].…”