New York Times Index releases subject headings to the Linked Data Cloud

The New York Times, which has already released subject headings for people, places and organizations as terms available to the semantic web, is now releasing 498 topical subject headings. In an article dated June 24, 2010, authors Kristi Reilly and Jennifer Parrucci describe broader and narrower terms and the differences between a paper and an online thesaurus. It's very interesting.

Actually, if you use the tag "linked data cloud" to search the NYT archive, there are several articles on their decision to release their thesaurus to the Linked Data Cloud, how they did it using RDF and SKOS, and how you can get ahold of their thesaurus to do anything you want with as well as an example of a little application created with the data. It's fascinating.

Thanks to Kathy Winzer of the Robert Crown Library at Stanford Law School for pointing me to the original article.

Accurate Metadata sells books

I've come back from AALL all fired up. The session on RDA and the Semantic Web finally got me thinking beyond the bother of a learning a new cataloging standard to the reason for doing so -- which, I think, is to make the data we've got locked up in our library catalogs usable by the rest of the world in ways we have not even considered. The article Accurate Metadata Sells Books by Calvin Reid in Publishers Weekly discusses how important accurate metadata about books and ebooks is to the publishing industry. As David Bigwood, in Catalogablog, points out, some of the metadata comes from nonlibrarians, as in ONIX (Online Information Exchange, an XML-based standardized format for transmitting information electronically) which is used by publishers, distributers, retailers and consumers, and Librarything, whose data is used by Calibre, an open source management tool for e-books. Library data is already enriching these metadata systems -- OCLC metadata is used to enrich ONIX, and Library Thing gets some of its metadata from libraries, too. Already our data and metadata is being used by non-librarians in ways we hadn't really considered. It will be interesting to see how this increases, and in what ways.

From Catalogablog

Is this an opensource answer to things like Encore?

Today, VuFind 1.0 has been released.

In addition to improved stability, the new release includes several features missing from the previous release candidate:

* Flexible support for non-MARC metadata formats
* A mobile interface
* Dewey Decimal support
* Integration with Serials Solutions' Summon
* Dynamic "recommendations modules" to complement search results with relevant tips

Here is the description of VuFind from their home page.

VuFind is a library resource portal designed and developed for libraries by libraries. The goal of VuFind is to enable your users to search and browse through all of your library's resources by replacing the traditional OPAC to include:

* Catalog Records
* Locally Cached Journals
* Digital Library Items
* Institutional Repository
* Institutional Bibliography
* Other Library Collections and Resources

VuFind is completely modular so you can implement just the basic system, or all of the components. And since it's open source, you can modify the modules to best fit your need or you can add new modules to extend your resource offerings.


from Catalogablog

OCLC Policy Statement on RDA Cataloging in WorldCat for the U.S. Testing Period

On June 15, 2010, OCLC released a statement entitled: OCLC Policy Statement on RDA Cataloging in WorldCat for the  U.S. Testing Period (available at: http://www.oclc.org/us/en/rda/policy.htm)

Catalogers who are familiar with RDA rules may begin to contribute original cataloging to WorldCat using RDA, or wait for the results of the RDA testing. All RDA records should be coded 040 $e "rda" and "$b eng". To see sample RDA records in WorldCat, RDA records may be searched via the new OCLC index: Descriptive conventions (label "dx:" in the Connexion Browser).

Visual "map" of the metadata landscape for standards most commonly used

Indiana University librarian Jenn Riley has done an impressive visual "map" of the metadata landscape for standards most commonly used in the cultural heritage sector. She created this map of metadata standards to assist planners with the selection and implementation of metadata standards. She also provides an 18-page glossary with brief descriptions of the purpose of each standard.

To check it out, click the following link:  

"Seeing Standards: A Visualization of the Metadata Universe."  

http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/~jenlrile/metadatamap/

Strategy Framework for Digital Natives

Blowers, Helene. "From Realities to Values: A Strategy Framework for Digital Natives" Computers in Libraries 30(4)(May 2010): 6-10. At: http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/may10/Blowers.shtml

When technology changes constantly, how can an institution support their digital initiatives? Blowers summarized the young digital generation's perceptions of digital identity, privacy, creativity, piracy/sharing, and advocacy. As she points out, technologies come and go, but the reasons that people gravitate toward them do not. She identifies common threads that support the social and emotional needs of Digital Natives: engagement, enrichment, and empowerment. Libraries can use these three factors to help measure the potential social ROI (Return On Influence) of digital projects and online initiatives.

Examples illustrating differences between AACR2 and RDA

The Library of Congress has made available examples illustrating differences between AACR2 and RDA. The examples are provided as part of their documentation for the RDA Test. 

Some examples have only a few fields; others are more complete; some are made-up examples; some illustrate more than one category, but only appear in one category; and some examples are accompanied by RDA citations and other comments. 

One such category of examples is Legal Works. Additional examples will be added on an ongoing basis.

(http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/RDAtest/rdaexamples.html)