Post on 04-Jul-2015
description
Linked Data, Library Users, and the Discovery Tools of the Future
Emily Dust NimsakontCataloging Librarian, Nebraska Library Commission
Discovery Tools Now and In the FutureAmigos Online Conference
November 18, 2014
Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/24178168@N07/6816581064/
What is a discovery tool?
“Discovery Layers are a relatively new software component for libraries that provide a search interface for users to find information held in the library’s catalog and beyond. Typically, a Discovery Layer is based on an enterprise search platform that can interact with a metadata index and will normally include additional features that allow your library to customize the search results.”
https://foss4lib.org/decision-support/discovery-layer-ssm/definition
What is a discovery tool?
“Discovery products provide an interface with search and retrieval capabilities, often with features such as relevancy-based ordering of search results, facets presented that can be selected to narrow results according to specific categories, contributors, or date ranges, and tools to identify related materials or to refine search queries.”
http://librarytechnology.org/discovery/
What is Linked Data?
“Linked Data is about using the Web to connect related data that wasn't previously linked, or using the Web to lower the barriers to linking data currently linked using other methods.”
http://linkeddata.org
What is Linked Data?
Linked Data “describes a method of publishing structured data so that it can be interlinked and become more useful. It builds upon standard Web technologies such as HTTP, RDF 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.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linked_data
resource
resource
resource
resource
resourcelinks to
links to
links to
links to
data links to
links to
links to
links to
data data
data
data
datadata
data
data
data
data
data
HTML
<h1>This is a heading.</h1>
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
RDF/XML
<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
Relationships are key
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brenda-starr/3509344100/
We are used to connecting pieces of information based on their context.
Title: A Christmas Carol
Author: Charles Dickens
Linked Data makes the relationships explicit.
subject object
A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens
has author
predicate
Relationships can be established between data from various resources.
Linking Open Data cloud diagram 2014, by Max Schmachtenberg, Christian Bizer, Anja Jentzsch and Richard Cyganiak. http://lod-cloud.net/
What do these two things have in common?
Discovery Tools
Linked Data
Facets
Related Materials
What differences exist between these two things?
Discovery Tools
Linked Data
Relevance Ranking
Linked OpenData
Do libraries have to choose
between the two?
Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/67495976@N00/2699584043/
Linked Data, RDA, and BIBFRAME
RDA
• Resource Description and Access
• Replacement for AACR2 cataloging rules
• Breaks bibliographic information into data elements
• Focuses on relationships
• http://rdatoolkit.org
BIBFRAME
• Replacement for MARC (Machine Readable Cataloging)
• Linked Data model
• Similar (though not identical) terminology to RDA
• http://bibframe.org
OpenCat
http://demo.cubicweb.org/opencatfresnes
Advantages of using Linked Data for discovery tools
• More flexible than current situation
• More integrated than ILS + discovery layer
Disadvantages of using Linked Data for discovery tools
• Are ILS vendors ready?
• Linked Data vs. Linked Open Data
• What exactly should be “discoverable”? Do your library users care about outside resources?
Thank you!
Emily Dust Nimsakont
Cataloging Librarian
Nebraska Library Commission
emily.dust.nimsakont@nebraska.gov
http://delicious.com/enimsakont/discovery