ncompass live: linked data and libraries: what? why? how?
DESCRIPTION
In October of 2011, the Library of Congress released a statement outlining its efforts to move away from the MARC 21 format and toward another carrier for library data. According to the statement, "Linked Data principles and mechanisms" will be the focus of this project. You may be wondering, what is Linked Data? What could it mean for our library catalogs? How do we create Linked Data? In this session, Emily Nimsakont, the NLC’s Cataloging Librarian, will answer those questions and more.NCompass Live - Jan. 11, 2012.TRANSCRIPT
Linked Data and
Libraries:What? Why?
How?
Emily Dust NimsakontNebraska Library
CommissionNCompass Live January 11, 2012
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An announcement from the Library of Congress…
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“…the Library community’s data carrier, MARC, is ‘based on forty-year-old techniques for data management and is out of step with programming styles of today.’”
“…something new is now needed…”
“The new bibliographic framework project will be focused on…Linked Data principles and mechanisms…”
“A Bibliographic Framework for the Digital Age” http://www.loc.gov/marc/transition/news/framework-103111.html
What is Linked Data?
“It builds upon standard Web technologies such as HTTP and URIs, but rather than using them to serve web pages for human readers, it extends them to share information in a way that can be read automatically by computers.”“This enables data from different
sources to be connected and queried.”
“…linked data describes a method of publishing structured data so that it can be interlinked and become more useful.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linked_data
Semantic Web vs. Linked Data
web of documents vs.
web of data
resource
resource
resource
resource
resource
links to
links to
links to
links to
links to
data links to
links to
links to
links to
data data
data
datadata
datadata
datadata
data
datalinks to
Relationships are key
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Encoded meaning
<h1>This is a heading.</h1><p>This is a paragraph.</p>
<h1>My Favorite Trees</h1><p>I like oak trees.</p>
<p>I also like maple trees.</p>
Encoded meaning
<rdf:Descriptionrdf:about="http://www.recshop.fake/cd/Empire Burlesque"> <cd:artist>Bob Dylan</cd:artist> <cd:country>USA</cd:country> <cd:company>Columbia</cd:company> <cd:price>10.90</cd:price> <cd:year>1985</cd:year></rdf:Description>
http://www.w3schools.com/rdf/rdf_example.asp
Links between entities
<rdf:Description rdf:about=“http://www4.wiwiss.fu-berlin.de/bookmashup/books/0375507256”>
<rev:hasReview rdf:resource=“http://www4.wiwiss.fu-berlin.de/bookmashup/reviews/0375507256_EditorialReview1”/>
<dc:creator rdf:resource=“http://www4.wiwiss.fu-berlin.de/bookmashup/persons/David+Mitchell”/>
<dc:format>Paperback</dc:format> <dc:identifier
rdf:resource=“urn:ISBN:0375507256”/> <dc:publisher>Random House Trade
Paperbacks</dc:publisher> <dc:title>Cloud Atlas: A Novel</dc:title></rdf:Description>
http://commonplace.net/2009/06/linked-data-for-libraries/
data links to
links to
links to
links to
data data
data
datadata
datadata
datadata
data
datalinks to
1. Data instead of documents2. Relationships are key3. Encoded meaning4. Links between entities
So what?
Linked Data
makes the Web into a database.
How does Linked Data
happen?
Linked Data Principles
Tim Berners-Lee, “Linked Data-Design Issues.” http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html
Use URIs as names for
things
Use HTTP URIs so people can look up these
names
When someone looks up a URI, provide
useful information, using the standards
Include links to other URIs, so that they can discover
more things
URIs
Uniform Resource Identifiers = unique identifiers
http://www.example.com/thing1
RDF
Resource Description Framework
Describes relationships based on triples (statements):
subject-predicate-object
http://www.w3.org/RDF
RDF
subject object
A Christmas
Carol
Charles Dickens
has author
predicate
RDF Graph
Charles Dickens
A Christmas
Carol
has author has
publisher
Penguin
RDF Graph with URIs
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/
n78087607/
http://example.org/books/2002275771
http://example.org/
hasAuthor
http://example.org/hasPublisher
http://example.org/publishers/12345
RDF
<rdf:Description rdf:about=“http://example.org/books/2002275771”>
<dc:creator rdf:resource=“http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n78087607”/>
<dc:publisher ref:resource=“http://example.org/publishers/12345” />
</rdf:Description>
Ontologies
An ontology is a vocabulary of specific terms to be used to
describe resources.
Sound familiar?
5 Stars of Linked Open Data
★ Available on the web★★ Available as structured data★★★ Available in a non-proprietary format★★★★ Use open standards to identify things, so people can point at your stuff★★★★★ Link your data to other people’s data to provide context
http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html
Linked OPEN Data
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Why should libraries
care about Linked Data?
Changes to bibliographic
data
In traditional cataloging, a record is one package.
Author
Title
Bibliographic Record
Bibliographic Record
Records can be exchanged, but there is no way to exchange the individual pieces of information within a record.
Bibliographic Record
Bibliographic Record
Person
Is author of
Title
Bibliographic Record
With Linked Data, a bibliographic record is made up of many pieces of data.
And the relationships between these pieces of data are defined.
Person
Is author of
Title
Bibliographic RecordThe boundaries of the record can be dissolved…
Person
Is author of
Title
Bibliographic Record
…and the data can interact with other information on the Web…
Person
Is author of
Title
Bibliographic Record
…and make use of other data on the web.
New federated
search possibilities
New ways of searching
our catalogs
New homes for librarians’
skills
Are there sources of
linked library data?
http://id.loc.gov
http://viaf.org
http://dewey.info/
http://rdvocab.info/
http://richard.cyganiak.de/2007/10/lod/
What does Linked
Data look like?
http://www.nines.org
http://www.civilwardata150.net/
http://www.openlibrary.org
Resources
The Thirty Minute Guide to RDF and Linked Data
by Ian Davis and Tom Heath
http://www.slideshare.net/iandavis/30-minute-guide-to-rdf-and-linked-
data
Be Part of the Web - Not Just On It: Report of the Stanford Linked Data Workshop, 27 June - 1 July
2011
http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub152/LinkedDataWorkshop.pdf
Linked Open Data in Libraries, Archives, and
Museums
http://lod-lam.net/
Managing Metadataby Laura Smart
http://library.caltech.edu/laura/
ALA Linked Data Interest Group
http://connect.ala.org/node/142470
Bibliographic Framework Transition Initiative
http://www.loc.gov/marc/transition/
BIBFRAME listserv
http://listserv.loc.gov/listarch/bibframe.html
Thank you!
Emily Dust NimsakontCataloging Librarian
Nebraska Library Commission
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