Xia Lin

Recent applications of Knowledge Organization Systems: introduction to a special issue

This special issue of the International Journal of Digital Libraries evolved from the 13th Networked Knowledge Organization Systems (NKOSs) workshop held at the joint Digital Libraries conference 2014 in London. The focus of the workshop was ‘Mapping between Linked Data vocabularies of KOS’ and ‘Meaningful Concept Display and Meaningful Visualization of KOS’. The issue presents six papers on the general theme on both conceptual aspects and technical implementation of NKOS. We dedicate this special issue to our long-term colleague and friend Johan De Smedt who died in June 2015 while we were editing the special issue.

Towards digital repository interoperability: the document indexing and semantic tagging interface for libraries (DISTIL)

The question of how to integrate diverse digital repositories into a unified information infrastructure, accessible and discoverable through simple interfaces, remains a central research issue for digital libraries. Many collections are described by specialized metadata, which currently has to be mapped and crosswalked to a standard format in order to be useful. However, this metadata work can be expensive and resource consuming. We describe work-in-progress with DISTIL (Document Indexing & Semantic Tagging Interface for Libraries) to support federated cross-collection search in humanities and the social sciences. DISTIL proposes to support interoperability by generating Dewey Decimal Classification tags from individual metadata records. The resulting tags can then be used to support cross-collection browsing. We focus here on some of the initial pre-processing stages of the metadata workflow, which include cleaning and formatting metadata records, in order to extract terms that can then be used to generate the DDC tags. Some initial strategies for and issues with this workflow are described.

Augmenting Dublin Core digital library metadata with Dewey Decimal Classification

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe a new approach to a well-known problem for digital libraries, how to search across multiple unrelated libraries with a single query. Design/methodology/approach – The approach involves creating new Dewey Decimal Classification terms and numbers from existing Dublin Core records. In total, 263,550 records were harvested from three digital libraries. Weighted key terms were extracted from the title, description and subject fields of each record. Ranked DDC classes were automatically generated from these key terms by considering DDC hierarchies via a series of filtering and aggregation stages. A mean reciprocal ranking evaluation compared a sample of 49 generated classes against DDC classes created by a trained librarian for the same records. Findings – The best results combined weighted key terms from the title, description and subject fields. Performance declines with increased specificity of DDC level. The results compare favorably with similar studies. R...

Mapping metadata to DDC classification structures for searching and browsing

In this paper, we introduce a metadata visual interface based on metadata aggregation and automatic classification mapping. We demonstrate that it is possible to aggregate metadata records from multiple unrelated repositories, enhance them through automatic classification, and present them in a unified visual interface. The main features of the interface include dynamic querying using DDC classes as filters, interactive visual views of search results and related DDC classes, and drill-down options for searching and browsing in different levels of details. The interface was tested in a user study of 30 subjects. A comparison was done on three modules of the interface, namely ‘search interface’, ‘hierarchical interface’, and ‘visual interface.’ The results indicate that subjects performed well with all the three interfaces, and they had more positive experience with the hierarchical interface than with the search interface and the visual interface.

Maximizing the usage of value vocabularies in the linked data ecosystem

The creation of knowledge organization systems (KOS) such as taxonomies, thesaurus, ontologies, and name authorities involve tremendous intellectual efforts. With the rapid development of Linked Data, KOSs functioning as value vocabularies has become fundamental in interlinking the values of discrete datasets. How to build on the existing value vocabularies and maximize their usage is a critical issue and directly relates to the cost-effectiveness and the sustainability of a vocabulary as well as the datasets using it. This panel will focus on maximizing the usage of existing value vocabularies around the life-cycle of a vocabulary in the Linked Data Ecosystem, including: (1) Transforming a subject heading vocabulary into a schema fully compatible with machine processing while also being easier to understand; (2) Using other Linked Data vocabularies to enrich and add details to each of the terms in a value vocabulary; (3) Managing and sharing KOS through registries and microdata using a metadata application profile; and (4) Designing and developing tools to connect Meaningful Concept Displays (MCDs) to multiple KOS and search systems, focusing on visualization approaches and new browsing styles.

SKOS for an integrated vocabulary structure

In order to transfer the Chinese Classified Thesaurus (CCT) into a machine-processable format and provide CCT-based Web services, a pilot study has been conducted in which a variety of selected CCT classes and mapped thesaurus entries are encoded with SKOS. OWL and RDFS are also used to encode the same contents for the purposes of feasibility and cost-benefit comparison.

Theme creation for digital collections

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