KBART Phase III: Changes and Unresolved QuestionsAndrée RathemacherUniversity of Rhode Island

Noah LevinIndependent professional

Stephanie Doellinger OCLC

36th Annual NASIG ConferenceThursday, May 20, 2021 https://sched.co/ifzm

KBART Standing Committee

KBART is one of the most successful NISO recommendations today. Formally supported by over 80 organizations across all stakeholder groups, it enables a standardized transfer of data between content providers and knowledge bases. Recently KBART added an automated process to transfer institution-specific holdings data to knowledge bases.

Now, the KBART Standing Committee is beginning work on Phase III of the KBART Recommended Practice, which has not been updated since 2014.

While KBART was originally designed to deliver journal and book holdings information in support of OpenURL link resolvers, KBART files are now used in multiple systems and by various stakeholders throughout the e-resource supply chain. In addition, content providers have moved beyond journals and books to deliver multimedia and non-book/non-journal content from around the globe.

In this session, members of the KBART Standing Committee will provide an overview of our plans around KBART Phase III, which is now underway. We will review our progress to date, highlighting our efforts to resolve thorny issues around KBART files for which there are no easy answers such as:=> When content providers should supply separate KBART files=> How to handle gap coverage for serials=> How to indicate open access content and embargoed content=> Best practices regarding title histories and parent publication identifiers=> Challenges of supporting additional content types beyond serials and monographs

We’ll also discuss our recommendation for a file guide, a document that will serve as a guide to the various KBART files available from a content provider and enhanced support for global content. We’ll raise questions about the role of KBART in discovery of and access to content at the article and chapter levels.

During the session, we will encourage candid interactions, giving the audience the opportunity to contribute feedback and ideas for keeping KBART relevant and valuable now and into the future.

Presentation will be 20 minutes. 40 minutes for discussion. Session: 12:30pm - 1:30pm, https://sched.co/ifzm

What is KBART?

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KBART, which stands for “Knowledge Bases and Related Tools,” is a NISO Recommended Practice.

Very simply, KBART recommends best practices for the communication of electronic resource title list and coverage data from content providers to knowledge base suppliers.

KBART specifies file format, delivery mechanisms, and fields to include, and it applies to both serials and monographs.

Simple .txt file that can be opened in any spreadsheet program.

[Andrée]

KBART History

2010 - KBART Phase I published (UKSG/NISO working group, 2007-2014)

● Improve data supplied to knowledge bases and link resolvers to improve OpenURL linking for

journals.

2014 - KBART Phase II published (NISO KBART Standing Committee, 2014-)

● Expands KBART to include e-books and conference proceedings, OA content, metadata for

consortia.

2019 - KBART Automation published

● Companion to KBART providing for automated transfer of institution-specific KBART-formatted

files from content providers to knowledge bases.

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[Andrée]

Who is the KBART Standing Committee?

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[Andrée]

KBART Phase III1. Draft Phase III proposal

2. Seek approval from NISO Information Discovery & Interchange Topic Cmte.

3. Identify working areas and needed subgroups

4. Identify areas of expertise needed and recruit new members

5. Review/Outline Period

a. Research new recommendations with emphasis on what providers currently send and what KBs can

utilize

b. Subgroups to create outline of new recommendations

6. Complete initial draft

7. Circulation of draft for 30-day comment period

8. Marketing and education

9. Incorporate requests from public comments and complete final draft for publication

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Started in March 2020

[Andrée]

KBART Phase III Work Items (1)

● Clarify Current Recommendations 😎○ Simplified, but expanded information on the metadata fields needed.

○ Better examples.

○ Revised guidance on handling Gap Coverage, Title Changes and History, Withdrawn/No longer available

titles, and Open Access content.

● Endorsement Process○ Create different levels of endorsement.

● Additional Content Types○ KBART Phase II only allows for journals and e-books.

○ Phase III will create support for:

■ Textual content (blogs, transcripts, websites, manuscripts, datasets, etc.).

■ Non-textual content (audio, video, images, etc.).

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[Andrée]

KBART Phase III Work Items (2)

● Global Content○ KBART Phase III will identify translations of items or and allow representation of author names or titles in

multiple languages.

● File Guide 😎○ Content providers have an extensive catalog of content for sale (by content type, subject, geographic region,

consortium, etc.) This results in a separate KBART file for each offering.

○ The File guide introduced in KBART Phase III creates a document from content providers that serves as a

guide to their files. This will reduce confusion amongst libraries and knowledge base suppliers as files are

added, removed or changed.

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[Andrée]

KBART Phase III Work Items (3)

● Create new licensing language 😎● Investigate new format options

○ Create a road map for future usage of format options for KBART: for example JSON, XML.

○ These other formats would not replace the current delimited text, but would offer other options.

○ This creates flexibility for KBART Automation and API’s.

● Article/chapter-level data○ Create a roadmap for future article/chapter-level data.○ Allows for content providers that sell content on article/chapter level.○ Will accommodate hybrid OA content.

● KBART Mission Statement 😎○ Recognize current KBART usage and KBART Automation.

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[Andrée]

KBART Phase III — KBART Mission Statement

Originally envisioned to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of OpenURL communication, KBART

usage has expanded greatly since its inception, with wide adoption. Currently, KBART files are used for a

number of purposes including:

● Knowledge bases use KBART files to facilitate linking to available content.

● Discovery systems use knowledge base holdings, created by KBART files, to indicate institutional

holdings in the discovery layer.

● Content Providers use KBART files to communicate to libraries and institutions their available

holdings.

● Libraries and library consortia use KBART files as a tool for e-resource management, to track their

holdings.

● Content Providers use KBART to communicate their own package lists internally.

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[Noah]

KBART Phase III — KBART Mission Statement

Although KBART is used heavily for communicating title level holdings and linking information, it should

be noted that KBART is not a bibliographic recommended practice. The data contained in KBART is

sufficient to allow readability of the files to allow knowledge bases to correctly identify what titles and

journals are in the file. More robust bibliographic data must come from MARC, ONIX or other

bibliographic metadata feeds which KBART does not replace.

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[Noah]

NISO Plus feedback

At the NISO Plus conference in February 2021, we asked attendees four questions:

● How are you using KBART today?

● How would you like to use KBART that is not possible today?

● What additional content types do you wish KBART supported?

● What additional fields would best support new content types?

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[Noah]

We’ll be asking you the same questions later in this session.

NISO Plus feedback

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How are you using KBART today?

● Platform providing KBART files on demand for libraries

● Publisher sharing KBART files (generic and customized) with institutions subscribing to content

● Subscriber (library) using KBART files to cross-check content coverage and verify metadata

● Subscriber (library) using KBART files to auto-load holdings into library management system to

enable discovery and access

● Subscriber (library) using KBART files to add/update holdings in OCLC WorldCat

[Noah]

NISO Plus feedback

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How would you like to use KBART that is not possible today?

● Cover content types not currently supported

● More automation

● Link related ISBNs

● Authority control fields for authors, e.g., ORCIDs

● Identify and use effectively all possible key identifiers (persistent identifiers etc.)

● Straightforward map/crosswalk to other schema for metadata (e.g. MARC or Dublin Core).

[Noah]

Additional content types - NISO Plus feedback

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What additional content types do you wish KBART supported?

● Audio-visual materials (video, audio, streaming media, etc.)

● Images

● Archival materials

● Standards

● Simulations, AR, VR

● More granular items, from book chapters and articles to ‘non-standard’ and unpublished materials

such as archival materials, manuscripts and ephemera in digital archives.

[Noah]

Additional content types - NISO Plus feedback

What additional fields would best support new content types?

● A “content_type” field.

● Duration

● Additional contributor fields, e.g. Director

● Relevant identifiers for AV and non-textual formats

● Separate KBART files (with different fields) for non-textual formats

● Content, carrier, media fields as per RDA standards

● Provenance

● Accessibility compliance statement such as W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)

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[Noah]

KBART Phase III — Gap coverage

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Phase II: List title twice if coverage

gap of greater than 12 months;

Greater granularity in reporting data

coverage gaps is desirable and should

be agreed on with the knowledge

base link resolver supplier if it can be

supported.

Phase III: List title twice if coverage

gap of greater than 6 months.

[Noah]

We’ll also ask what you think of our proposed changes to gap coverage in Phase III.

=> We removed “Greater granularity in reporting data coverage gaps is desirable and should be agreed on with the knowledge base link resolver supplier if it can be supported” in order to avoid overly complicated holdings statements in patron-facing library systems.

=> To balance that, we changed recommendation to list title twice if coverage gap is greater than 6 months. (Don’t want anything more granular than that.)

This is a reflection of KBART’s broader mission and use: Balancing greater granularity that might help Open URL link resolvers with less granulary for clarity in patron-facing library systems.

Final Phase III language:6.4.6 Gap Coverage

A Gap in Coverage is when content was published for a period of time however the content is not available within the collection represented by the KBART title list being generated. A title should be listed twice if there is a coverage gap of greater than or equal to 6 months, with only the coverage field changing.

For example, if a serial is published monthly and there are 8 months of content missing from the collection represented by the KBART title list then two rows for the title will be included. The first row would include the coverage up to the 8 month gap, and the second row would include the coverage after that gap.

[[[We changed 12 months to 6 months in the first paragraph and we removed “Greater granularity in reporting data coverage gaps is desirable…]]]

KBART Phase III — OA content

KBART files communicate title level information and do not currently handle article or chapter level

access. Due to this, communicating freely available articles and chapter level access (ie. hybrid

open access) is not supported in KBART.

Identifying Freely Available/Open Access content cannot be accomplished by a single field, but a

combination of three elements, the file type, coverage statement (start date, end date and

embargo), and Access Type.

1. File type: If a subset of a provider’s content is available open access, a separate KBART file should be created for that content. (Open access content may also be included in other packages.) Examples: Wiley Online Library Open Access; Cambridge Books - Open Access.

2. Access type: Three possible values: P (paid), F (free), M (mixed/hybrid/selected).

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[Noah]

We’ll also ask what you think of our proposed changes for OA content coverage in Phase III.

Phase III clean re-write:

6.6 Freely Available / Open Access Content

Identifying freely available, or open access, content within a KBART file poses a significant challenge that isn’t easily solved. The purpose of KBART files is to communicate what content is accessible to users who have purchased or have access to a specific set of content. The data within each KBART file that is generated (see 6.5 File Generation) should represent the content accessible within that collection. With the exception of the “All Titles” file the assumption should be made that the user of the file has purchased that collection and the contents within should represent all content and dates of content they have access to.

KBART files communicate title level information and do not currently handle article or chapter level access. Due to this, communicating freely available articles and chapter level access (ie. hybrid open access) is not supported in KBART.

Identifying Freely Available/Open Access content cannot be accomplished by a single field, but a combination of three elements, the file type (see 6.5 File Generation), coverage statement (start date, end date and embargo), and Access Type (see x.x.x).

6.5.4 Open Access Collections

If a subset of a provider’s content is available open access, a separate KBART file should be created for that content. (Open access content may also be included in other packages.) Examples:Cambridge Books - Open AccessEmerald Open AccessTaylor & Francis eBooks (Open Access)Walter De Gruyter: Open Access eBooksWalter De Gruyter: Open Access JournalsWiley Online Library Open Access

6.8.26 Access Type

The type of access for the content title has three possible values:

● Fee-based (paid) – When access to a content title within the context of the collection is solely based upon a fee, either subscription or purchase (or a combination of the two), the access type is “P”.

● Open Access (free) – When access to a content title within the context of the collection is solely based on any one of the numerous open access models (e.g., gold open access, author-pays open access, etc.) the code is “F”.

● Mixed (hybrid/selected content) - When access to a content title within the context of the collection has a mixture of both purchased content and open access/free content, whether at the article level or issue level, the access type is “M”.

Notes field should be used to describe the extent of mixed (“M”) content within the title.

Examples for use:

Titles within an “Open Access” KBART file (see 6.A File Generation) should include titles in which the content is 100% freely available within the date of coverage specified. If access to the most recently published content is behind a paywall the embargo field should be utilized to represent that restriction of freely available access. For example, a journal with a restriction on the most recent 12 months would have a coverage start date of the first volume and issues freely available, no end date and an embargo of E12M. In this file the Access Type would be “F” for every line item.

Title within the “All Titles” KBART file should include all titles in which content is accessible on the content provider’s platform. The coverage date should represent all content available. The same title in the above “Open Access” file would not include the embargo, and the Access Type would be “M” for mixed content since it is open access, but paid for the most recent content. Titles that have individual articles or chapters that are open access would include the “M” indicator for mixed free and paid content.The Access Type would include “P” for those titles that are 100% paid content, “F” for titles that are 100% freely available, and “M” for those titles that contain a mix of paid and free content.

Titles within a paid collection KBART file would include all titles in which content is accessible to those that purchase that collection. These files could include Fee-based titles, Freely available, and mixed titles. The coverage statement for each title should indicate the range of content the user has access to regardless of being paid or free. The Access Type would include “P” for those titles that are 100% paid content, “F” for titles that are 100% freely available, and “M” for those titles that contain a mix of paid and free content.

KBART Phase III: Join the discussion!

You will receive a link in the Zoom chat for an interactive URL

https://easyretro.io/publicboard/3skbaWnbSOWf5M0Fa2uwEqfWua82/8a8849d5-3c11-41ea-a12e-d2d17c330131

Let’s Discuss!

● How are you using KBART today?● How would you like to use KBART that is not possible today?● What additional content types do you wish KBART supported?● What additional fields would best support new content types?● What do you think about KBART Phase III's proposed treatment of gaps in coverage?● What do you think about KBART Phase III's recommendations for handling OA content?

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[Noah]

KBART Phase III: How can you be involved?

Contact us by email: kbart@niso.org

Join the interest group mailing list: https://groups.niso.org/lists/kbart_interest/

Respond to the KBART Phase III draft during the public feedback period.

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[Noah]