The US' National Information Standards Organization (NISO) has announced the publication of a special themed issue of the Information Standards Quarterly (ISQ) magazine on Linked Data for Libraries, Archives and Museums. ISQ Guest Content Editor Corey Harper, Metadata Services Librarian, New York University, has sought to pull together a broad range of perspectives on what is happening today with linked data in cultural institutions.
A feature article by Gordon Dunsire, Corey Harper, Diane Hillmann and Jon Phipps on Linked Data Vocabulary Management describes the shift in popular approaches to large-scale metadata management and interoperability to the increasing use of the Resource Description Framework to link bibliographic data into the larger web community. The authors also identify areas where best practices and standards are needed to ensure a common and effective linked data vocabulary infrastructure.
Four "in practice" articles seek to illustrate the growth in the implementation of linked data in the cultural sector. Jane Stevenson, in "Linking Lives", describes the work to enable structured and linked data from the Archives Hub in the UK. In "Joining the Linked Data Cloud in a Cost-Effective Manner", Seth van Hooland, Ruben Verborgh and Rik Van de Walle show how general purpose Interactive Data Transformation tools, such as Google Refine, can be used to efficiently perform the necessary task of data cleaning and reconciliation that precedes the opening up of linked data.
Ted Fons, Jeff Penka and Richard Wallis discuss OCLC's Linked Data Initiative and the use of Schema.org in WorldCat to make library data relevant on the web. In "Europeana: Moving to Linked Open Data", Antoine Isaac, Robina Clayphan and Bernhard Haslhofer explain how the metadata for over 23 million objects are being converted to an RDF-based linked data model in the EU's flagship digital cultural heritage initiative.
Jon Voss provides a status on "Linked Open Data for Libraries, Archives, and Museums State of Affairs" and the annual summit to advance this work. Thomas Elliott, Sebastian Heath and John Muccigrosso report on the Linked Ancient World Data Institute, a workshop to further the availability of linked open data to create reusable digital resources with the classical studies disciplines.
Kevin Ford wraps up the contributed articles with a standard spotlight article on LC's Bibliographic Framework Initiative and the Attractiveness of Linked Data. This Library of Congress-led community effort aims to transition from MARC 21 to a linked data model.
