Mirna Willer

Standard library metadata models and structures for the Semantic Web

Purpose – There has been a significant increase in activity over the past few years to integrate library metadata with the Semantic Web. While much of this has involved the development of controlled vocabularies as “linked data”, there have recently been concerted attempts to represent standard library models for bibliographic metadata in forms that are compatible with Semantic Web technologies. This paper aims to give an overview of these initiatives, describing relationships between them in the context of the Semantic Web.Design/methodology/approach – The paper focusses on standards created and maintained by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, including Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records, Functional Requirements for Authority Data, and International Standard Bibliographic Description. It also covers related standards and models such as RDA – Resource Description and Access, REICAT (the new Italian cataloguing rules) and CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model, ...

UNIMARC and linked data

The main objective of this paper is to present arguments for and recommendations to representing UNIMARC formats for bibliographic and authority data in RDF (Resource Description Framework), the W3C standard for structuring data in Semantic Web and Linked Data environment. This is a continuation of the work already started by IFLA’s respective groups in representing International Standard Bibliographic Description, and conceptual models Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records, Functional Requirements for Authority Data and Functional Requirements for Subject Authority Data. The authors highly recommend that the Permanent UNIMARC Committee propose to IFLA the funding of the development of UNIMARC representation in RDF as a research and development project.

Bibliographic information organization in the Semantic Web

New technologies will underpin the future generation of library catalogues. In order to maintain their role in providing information, serving users, and fulfilling their mission as cultural heritage and memory institutions, libraries must take a technological leap ; library bibliographic standards, models, and services, must be transformed to those of the Semantic Web. Bibliographic Information Organization in the Semantic Web explores the technologies that will power the future generation of library catalogues, and argues the necessity of such a leap.

Selective archiving of web resources: a study of processing costs

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess costs in the National and University Library of Croatia for processing Croatian web resources and the maintenance and development of the service, and to analyse the present organisation and workflow of their processing, and to propose improvements.Design/methodology/approach – The assessment period was two months, during which the members of staff involved minutely monitored their tasks. The results were compared to the same exercise reported by the National Library of Australia and processing costs of cataloguing Croatian print publications.Findings – The bottom‐up analysis of processing web resources shows that a balanced description of tasks and their distribution over staff members was established, and that the present workflow meets the requirements of efficient processing of web resources. As a general finding, approximately the same time was spent on archiving new items, as on the control and maintenance of the already archived ones due to the change...

ISBD Resource and Its Description in the Context of the Semantic Web

This article explores the question “What is an International Standard for Bibliographic Description (ISBD) resource in the context of the Semantic Web, and what is the relationship of its description to the linked data?” This question is discussed against the background of the dichotomy between the description and access using the Semantic Web differentiation of the three logical layers: real-world objects, web of data, and special purpose (bibliographic) data. The representation of bibliographic data as linked data is discussed, distinguishing the description of a resource from the iconic/objective and the informational/subjective viewpoints. In the conclusion, the authors give views on possible directions of future development of the ISBD.

Formats and cataloguing rules: developments for cataloguing electronic resources

Following a brief history of cataloguing and the MARC format this paper describes current challenges in developing suitable international formats and cataloguing rules for dealing with electronic resources. Extensive references to the past and current literature provide an overview of the problems faced.

Semantic web and linked open data

To understand the new technological environment of the Semantic Web and linked open data, and to develop bibliographic services within it, it is necessary to understand some basic concepts and terms. A practical illustration of the state of the art of information retrieval using bibliographic control that preceded the Internet is followed by a brief description of the layering of the World Wide Web on top of the Internet, and the Semantic Web on top of that. Technical concepts relevant to Universal Bibliographic Control are described and illustrated with library examples, covering: the Internet, World Wide Web and Semantic Web; Resource Description Framework, the structural foundation of the Semantic Web, the expression of metadata statements as triples, and Uniform Resource Identifiers and namespaces; mathematical graphs as representations of triples; ontologies and application profiles as ways of expressing metadata schema; the open world assumption; the importance of metadata provenance; mapping, alignment and harmonization of metadata using different schema; and linked open data and the linking data cloud.

FRBR/FRAD and Eva Verona's Cataloging Code: Toward the Future Development of Croatian Cataloging Code

The purpose of this article is to research the feasibility of evolving Eva Veronas Code and Manual for Compiling Alphabetical Catalogues, the current Croatian cataloging code, into a Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR)/Functional Requirements for Authority Data (FRAD) structured code of rules, with the aim of assessing the direction to be taken toward development of the future national cataloging rules. The methodology used is the mapping of conceptual models FRBR and FRAD entities, attributes, and relationships to Veronas Code of rules.

ISBD, the UNIMARC Bibliographic Format, and RDA: Interoperability Issues in Namespaces and the Linked Data Environment

The article is an updated and expanded version of a paper presented to International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions in 2013. It describes recent work involving the representation of International Standard for Bibliographic Description (ISBD) and UNIMARC (UNIversal MARC) in Resource Description Framework (RDF), the basis of the Semantic Web and linked data. The UNIMARC Bibliographic format is used to illustrate issues arising from the development of a bibliographic element set and its semantic alignment with ISBD. The article discusses the use of such alignments in the automated processing of linked data for interoperability, using examples from ISBD, UNIMARC, and Resource Description and Access.

POSSIBILITIES OF EXTENDING DIGITAL HUMANITIES INTO SEMANTIC WEB ENVIRONMENT: THE CASE STUDY OF CROATIAN MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPTS AND INCUNABULA AND THEIR FRAGMENTS

The article deals with the research on and description of medieval manuscripts and incunabula and their fragments as part of the digital humanities project in the context of the Semantic Web. It first describes the case study of Croatian medieval manuscripts and incunabula proposed as a research project by the Department of Information Sciences, University of Zadar. The focus of the project was directed at the selection of data elements required for detailed description of the mentioned material and their standardization using ontologies developed by the old and rare book community’s disciplines such as bibliography, codicology, palaeography and typography. A brief introduction to the technological infrastructure of the Semantic Web and its standards follows, with a detailed description of methodology to publish a selected vocabulary in one of the metadata registry services. This section of the article concludes with the RDF graph for the partially reconstituted record of a fragment description as an example of publishing linked open data. As each of the mentioned disciplines uses its own value vocabularies or ontologies, it is suggested that mappings between their terms is designed using SKOS rules, rather than aiming at the use of one common vocabulary.