Lois Mai Chan

Trends and issues in establishing interoperability among knowledge organization systems

This report analyzes the methodologies used in establishing interoperability among knowledge organization systems (KOS) such as controlled vocabularies and classification schemes that present the organized interpretation of knowledge structures. The development and trends of KOS are discussed with reference to the online era and the Internet era. Selected current projects and activities addressing KOS interoperability issues are reviewed in terms of the languages and structures involved. The methodological analysis encompasses both conventional and new methods that have proven to be widely accepted, including derivation/modeling, translation/adaptation, satellite and leaf node linking, direct mapping, co-occurrence mapping, switching, linking through a temporary union list, and linking through a thesaurus server protocol. Methods used in link storage and management, as well as common issues regarding mapping and methodological options, are also presented. It is concluded that interoperability of KOS is an unavoidable issue and process in todays networked environment. There have been and will be many multilingual products and services, with many involving various structured systems. Results from recent efforts are encouraging.

Metadata Interoperability and Standardization - A Study of Methodology Part I Achieving Interoperability at the Schema Level

The rapid growth of Internet resources and digital collections has been accompanied by a proliferation of metadata schemas, each of which has been designed based on the requirements of particular user communities, intended users, types of materials, subject domains, project needs, etc. Problems arise when building large digital libraries or repositories with metadata records that were prepared according to diverse schemas. This article (published in two parts) contains an analysis of the methods that have been used to achieve or improve interoperability among metadata schemas and applications, for the purposes of facilitating conversion and exchange of metadata and enabling cross-domain metadata harvesting and federated searches. From a methodological point of view, implementing interoperability may be considered at different levels of operation: schema level, record level, and repository level. Part I of the article intends to explain possible situations in which metadata schemas may be created or implemented, whether in individual projects or in integrated repositories. It also discusses approaches used at the schema level. Part II of the article will discuss metadata interoperability efforts at the record and repository

Linking folksonomy to Library of Congress subject headings: an exploratory study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the linking of a folksonomy (user vocabulary) and LCSH (controlled vocabulary) on the basis of word matching, for the potential use of LCSH in bringing order to folksonomies.Design/methodology/approach – A selected sample of a folksonomy from a popular collaborative tagging system, Delicious, was word‐matched with LCSH. LCSH was transformed into a tree structure called an LCSH tree for the matching. A close examination was conducted on the characteristics of folksonomies, the overlap of folksonomies with LCSH, and the distribution of folksonomies over the LCSH tree.Findings – The experimental results showed that the total proportion of tags being matched with LC subject headings constituted approximately two‐thirds of all tags involved, with an additional 10 percent of the remaining tags having potential matches. A number of barriers for the linking as well as two areas in need of improving the matching are identified and described. Three important tag...

Metadata Interoperability and Standardization - A Study of Methodology Part II: Achieving Interoperability at the Record and Repository Levels

This is the second part of an analysis of the methods that have been used to achieve or improve interoperability among metadata schemas and their applications in order to facilitate the conversion and exchange of metadata and to enable cross-domain metadata harvesting and federated searches. From a methodological point of view, implementing interoperability may be considered at different levels of operation: schema level (discussed in Part I of the article), record level (discussed in Part II of the article), and repository level (also discussed in Part II). The results of efforts to improve interoperability may be observed from different perspectives as well, including element-based and value-based approaches.

A faceted approach to Subject data in the Dublin Core metadata record

SUMMARY The enormous volume and rapid growth of resources available on the World Wide Web and the emergence of numerous metadata schemes have spurred a re-examination of the way subject data is to be provided for Web resources efficiently and effectively. For the Dublin Core metadata record, a new approach to subject vocabulary is being investigated. This new method, called FAST (Faceted Application of Subject Terminology), is based on the existing vocabulary in Library of Congress Subject Headings (LC), but applied with a simpler syntax than that currently used by libraries according to Library of Congress application policies. In the FAST system, non-topical (i.e., geographic, chronological, and form) data are separated from topical data and placed in different elements provided in the Dublin Core metadata record.

Entering the millennium : A new century for LCSH

SUMMARY Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), a system originally designed as a tool for subject access to the Librarys own collection in the late nineteenth century, has become, in the course of the last century, the main subject retrieval tool in library catalogs throughout the United States and in many other countries. It is one of the largest non-specialized controlled vocabularies in the world. As LCSH enters a new century, it faces an information environment that has undergone vast changes from what had prevailed when LCSH began, or, indeed, from its state in the early days of the online age. In order to continue its mission and to be useful in spheres outside library catalogs as well, LCSH must adapt to the multifarious environment. One possible approach is to adopt a series of scalable and flexible syntax and application rules to meet the needs of different user communities.

Personalized knowledge organization and access for the web

Traditional information storage and retrieval methods used by library professionals over the last century have much to offer in the digital environment, particularly when they are combined with recent technology. A device, called Knowledge Class, was developed as a framework to integrate information organizing methods and advanced Web technology. Knowledge Class facilitates information organization based on hierarchical structures similar to those used in thesauri and classification schemes. Furthermore, it adds values to the list of hierarchical terms through built-in vocabulary controlled and pre-stored search strategies. It is coupled with an interactive graphical interface with both dynamic and static links to search engines and related Web sites. Knowledge Class was designed to be both an information-organizing device and an information access tool. The design process discussed in this article represents a new thinking on how to respond to the challenges of organizing and accessing the wealth of information on the Web.

Provision of Local Assisted Access to Selected Internet Information Resources by ARL Academic Libraries.

There is a critical need to provide academic library clients more efficient and effective access to Internet information resources that have value for higher education. This study examines local systems that Association of Research Libraries (ARL) academic libraries have developed over the last several years in response to this need.