In Library: An Unquiet History, historian and curatorial fellow for Harvard’s metaLAB Matthew Battles describes Melvil Dewey’s impatience with inefficiency in library work in the 1870s. “To Dewey, local interests and special needs were less important than the efficient movement of books into the hands of readers,” he writes. That crisp statement of purpose should be an inspiration to the current discussions around making library collections and programs visible and available on the web.
Library.Link Builds Open Web Visibility for Library Catalogs, Events
By on June 21, 2016
Linked data consulting and development company Zepheira is partnering with several vendors and libraries on the Library.Link Network, a project that promises to make relevant information about libraries, library events, and library collections prominent in search engine results. The service aims to address a longstanding problem. The world’s library catalogs contain a wealth of detailed, vetted, and authoritative data about books, movies, music, art—all types of content. But the bulk of library data is stored in MARC records. The bots that major search engines use to scan and index the web generally cannot access those records.
Ending the Invisible Library | Linked Data
By on February 24, 2015
To explain the utility of semantic search and linked data, Jeff Penka, director of channel and product development for information management solutions provider Zepheira, uses a simple exercise. Type “Chevy Chase” into Google’s search box, and in addition to a list of links, a panel appears on the right of the screen, displaying photos of the actor, a short bio, date of birth, height, full name, spouses and children, and a short list of movies and TV shows in which he has starred. Continue typing the letters “ma” into the search box, and the panel instantly changes, showing images, maps, current weather, and other basic information regarding the town of Chevy Chase, MD.
OCLC Works Toward Linked Data Environment | ALA Midwinter 2015
By on February 17, 2015
In an effort that parallels and complements the Library of Congress’s Bibliographic Framework Initiative (BIBFRAME), OCLC is using schema.org to help facilitate this discoverability using linked data, explained Richard Wallis, technology evangelist for OCLC and chair of the W3C Schema Bib Extend Community and his colleague Ted Fons, executive director, Data Services and WorldCat Quality Management for OCLC during the “OCLC Links and Entities: The Library Data Revolution” session at the American Library Association’s 2015 Midwinter conference in Chicago.
Library of Congress Announces Modeling Initiative
By on May 24, 2012
The Library of Congress has contracted with Zepheira, a semantic web development company, to accelerate the launch of its Bibliographic Framework Transition Initiative (BFTI). A major goal of BFTI is to replace the MARC 21 exchange format with a new Linked Data model.
LC Releases More Linked Data
By on June 4, 2010
When the Library of Congress unveiled their official release of the Library of Congress Subject Headings as Linked Data in May 2009, on their Authorities and Vocabularies web site, their intent to release more data seemed clear. A year passed, however, with nothing new added to the site. Now the day has come. Joining the […]
