New ALCTS monograph examines linked data for cultural heritage

CHICAGO — Linked data is essential for sharing library collections on the open web, especially the digital cultural heritage in the collections of libraries, archives, and museums. “Linked Data for Cultural Heritage” published by ALA Editions, gathers a stellar list of contributors to help readers understand linked data concepts by examining practice and projects based in familiar concepts like authority control. Topped by an insider’s perspective on OCLC’s experiments with Schema.org and the Library of Congress’s BIBFRAME project, the book addresses such topics as:

• a simplified description of linked data, summing up its promises and challenges;
• controlled vocabularies for the web;
• broadening use of library-curated vocabularies;
• how the complexity of AV models reveals the limitations of retrospective conversion;
• BIBFRAME’s triplestore data model;
• ways libraries are helping science researchers share their data, with descriptions of projects underway at major institutions;
• balancing the nuance within an element set with the sameness needed for sharing; and
• the influence of projects such as Europeana and Digital Public Library of America.

Ed Jones (coeditor) is associate director for library assessment and technical services at National University in San Diego. He is the author of “RDA and Serials Cataloging” and various journal articles, book chapters, and technical reports. He has spoken on library linked data at professional conferences and deals with it as a member of the Standing Committee on Standards of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging. Michele Seikel (coeditor) is a tenured professor on the library faculty at Oklahoma State University. Her primary professional focus is in cataloging, and she has published several research papers in technical services journals. Currently, she chairs the ALCTS Planning Committee, and is a member of the editorial board of the journal Library Resources and Technical Services.

The Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS) has been a division of the American Library Association since 1957. Its mission is to shape and respond nimbly to all matters related to the selection, identification, acquisition, organization, management, retrieval, and preservation of recorded knowledge through education, publication, and collaboration.

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