A public library's experimentation with BIBFRAME and Linked Data has improved their discoverability on the Web.

1. Breaking Up with MARC
BIBFRAME’s Potential to Increase
LibraryVisibility
Andrea Kappler
Cataloging Manager
Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library

2. Disclaimers
• I’m not a BIBFRAME expert
• I’m not a webmaster or CS major
• I’m older than MARC format
• I didn’t sleep at a Holiday Inn Express

3. Goals
• MARC problems/Invisible libraries
• CurrentWeb
• Overview of BIBFRAME/Linked Data
• EVPL’s BIBFRAME experimentation
• MARC to BIBFRAME conversion
• BIBFRAME’s potential

4. Why Dump MARC Format?
• It’s old and inflexible
• It’s designed for data strings, not things
• It’s anti-social
• It’s not the only game in town
• It’s a proprietary format

5. Invisible Libraries
• Data silos
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Website + Online catalog ≠ to exposing library collections on the web
– 84% of information searches begin on Internet (2005)
– 1% of information searches begin on library website (2005)
– 91% of people are likely to use a search engine the next time they need
information (2005)
– 41% of people are likely to use an online library the next time they need
information (2005)
– 59% of people learn of new electronic information sources from
Websites or links (2005)
– 8% of people learn of electronic information sources from librarians
(2005)

6. Schema.org
• Joint alliance - Google,Yahoo!, and
Microsoft Bing
• Structured data schemas
• Shared vocabulary
• RDF (Resource Description Framework)

7. Triple Statements
Subject
Predicate
Object
This work
Was written by
This author
Source:
Library of Congress presentation: “Module 1: Introduction to the
Semantic Web and Linked Data. Part 2: Semantic Data Model:
Basic Overview”. http://www.loc.gov/catworkshop/bibframe/

8. Google Knowledge Graph
• Launched in 2012
• Facts/Relationships between people,
places, and things
• Structured data
– Wikipedia, DBpedia, RDF (Resource
Description Framework)

9. It contains Linked Data
from multiple sources.
Google Knowledge Graph

11. Library Archive Museum Corporation
We need a format which allows for easier data
reuse – inside and outside of libraries
Image appeared in “BIBFRAME: Libraries Can Lead Linked Data”. Julia
Hauser, Reinhold Heuvelmann and Lars G. Svensson. Nov. 26, 2013.

12. What is BIBFRAME?
• New bibliographic initiative
• Standardized vocabulary
• Flexible and extensible

13. What is BIBFRAME?
• Utilizes Linked Data
– URIs vs. URLs
• Emphasizes relationships
• MARC Format replacement

14. BIBFRAME Classes
4 Core Classes:
• Work
– A resource reflecting the conceptual essence of the cataloged item
– Abstract
• Instance
– A resource reflecting a material embodiment of a BIBFRAME Work
– Concrete
• Authority
– Resource(s) reflecting key authority concepts that have defined
relationships toWorks and Instances
• Annotation
– An assertion about other core class elements, such as a review, an excerpt,
an abstract, holdings, book cover images, administrative metadata

15. BIBFRAME Model
Source:
United States Library of Congress & Zepheira.
BIBFRAME.ORG Technical Site. Website for the
Bibliographic Framework Initiative project,
accessed August 15, 2014. http://bibframe.org/

17. How library data could look in Google search results
Images created by Kevin Ford. Appeared in:
Frank, Paul. "BIBFRAME: Why? What? Who?" Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.,
May 1, 2014. http://www.loc.gov/pcc/bibframe/BIBFRAME%20paper%2020140501.docx
Now:
In a fully-realized BIBFRAME environment:

18. BIBFRAME Development
• LC and Zepheira partnership
• LC’s BIBFRAME editor
– http://bibframe.org/tools/editor/
• Zepheira’s BIBFRAME Scribe editor
– http://editor.bibframe.zepheira.com/static/
• Current status of BIBFRAME:
– http://www.loc.gov/bibframe/
– http://bibframe.org/

19. BIBFRAME Experimentation
• LC, OCLC
– LC’s BIBFRAME pilot: http://www.loc.gov/catworkshop/bibframe/
– LC’s BIBFRAME Implementation Register:
http://www.loc.gov/bibframe/implementation/register.html
– OCLC sample collection: http://bibframe.org/resources/sample-oclc/exhibit.html
• National libraries
– British Library
– Deutsche National Bibliotek (DNB)
– National Library of Medicine
• Academic libraries
– University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library
– George Washington University
– Columbia University & Cornell University
– Stanford University
– Princeton University Library
– UC Davis Library (BIBFLOW): https://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/bibflow/
• Zepheira’s LibHub Initiative

20. LibHub Initiative
http://www.libhub.org/
• Zepheira’s BIBFRAME experimentation project
• 13 partners
• Publish bibliographic records as BIBFRAME
resources
• Track visibility of those resources
• Adjust linking/publishing

21. BIBFRAME & Denver PL
• LibHub Initiative
• MARC to BIBFRAME conversion
• Explosion of web pages
• Linked Data is live!
• Molly Brown papers

25. EVPL’s BIBFRAME
Experimentation
• MCLS online class
• Converted MARC records
• ILS vendor
• What Denver PL did
• What EVPL did

26. http://zepheira.com/2015/12/four-new-public-libraries-
join-as-zepheira-early-experimenters-in-linked-data/

27. BIBFRAME & EVPL
• Early Experimenters Program
• Extracted MARC records
• Converted them to MARC21XML
• Uploaded file to Zepheira
• Zepheira converted them to BIBFRAME/LD

28. An example of two of our
867,291 MARC bibliographic
records Zepheira converted to
BIBFRAME and indexed on the
Web. We can tell it’s coming
from Zepheira because it says
“link.evpl.org/portal/…” in the
URL and that’s our URL with
Zepheria. There’s no Google
Knowledge Graph for this title
being held at our library- yet.
But it’s a start!

32. An example of a record which
has since been deleted from
our Sierra catalog. The landing
page has been grayed out and
there’s an “Archived” note
explaining why it’s gone, even
though you found it through a
link from another page on the
web.

33. WhatWe’ve Noticed
• Older vs. newer titles
• High publicity titles
• Qualifier required

34. An example of a new book that’s
in our catalog as of 2/22/16, but
the MARC record hadn’t been
converted to BIBFRAME/Linked
Data, so our library’s holdings for
it aren’t visible on the Web.

35. An example of a title with high media publicity

36. I’ve added ‘evpl’ to my search
and although I’ve reduced the
total number of results, I get
all of our library’s publicity
and our local media’s publicity
for it, because the word ‘evpl’
was used in the URL or in the
publicity by local media.

37. If I add the word ‘portal’,
which is part of our URL
provided by Zepheira, then
our Linked Data results leap to
the top of the list.

38. WhatWe’ve Noticed
• OverDrive
• Books are sometimes “MIA”
• Archiving of some new titles
• No timeline

39. What Hasn’t Changed
• Still using MARC format
• Still doing authority control
• Still using same ILS software
• No Linked Data in our catalog

40. BIBFRAME Impacts
• Data exchange
• Staff views
– Cataloging modules
– Librarian’s views
• Back-end storage
• End user interfaces

41. Impact on ILSVendors
• Conversion of MARC data
• Create triple store databases
• New interfaces (cataloging/discovery)
• Implementation of better SEO
• Variations based on vendor

42. BIBFRAME Linked Data Possibilities
• Reduced cataloging costs? Catalinking?
• Better collaborative, distributed cataloging?
• Resolution of the latest-entry vs. successive-
entry debate for serials?
• Crowd sourcing?

43. BIBFRAME Linked Data Possibilities
• One-click reciprocal linking?
• Geo-based holdings notification?
• Broadening searches?
• FRBR implementation?

44. BIBFRAME Observations
• Promising future, but still in the early stages of
development
– Not all MARC fields map to BIBFRAME classes
– Multiple RDA elements map to the same BIBFRAME properties
– Series treatment in BIBFRAME
– Holdings/Items don’t map anywhere
• BIBFRAME can’t be mapped to MARC format
• New data services needed

45. BIBFRAME Observations
• Multiple variations of BIBFRAME implementations are
evolving
• Google loves library data
• Hardest part of the transition is – people!

46. Moving Forward
• Continue with Zepheira
• Watch BIBFRAME development
• Communicate with ILS vendor
• Market Linked Data
• Evaluate Linked Data’s impact

47. “If libraries cling to outdated standards, they will find it increasingly difficult to
serve their clients as they expect and deserve” – Roy Tennant, “MARC Must Die”

48. Resources
• “MARC Must Die” – RoyTennant, Library Journal, Oct. 15, 2002
– http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2002/10/ljarchives/marc-must-die/#_
• “OCLCWorksTowards Linked Data Environment” – Matt Enis, Library Journal, Feb. 17, 2015
– http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2015/02/technology/oclc-works-toward-linked-data-environment-ala-
midwinter-2015/
• “Ending the Invisible Library” – Matt Enis, Library Journal, Feb. 24, 2015
– http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2015/02/technology/ending-the-invisible-library-linked-data/
• “The ILS and Linked Data: AWhite Paper” – Georgia Fujikawa, Innovative Interfaces (Aug.
2015)
– http://t.co/L4Nw3GFyeB
• Linked Data
– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linked_data
• Schema.org
– http://schema.org/
• RDF (Resource Description Framework)
– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_Description_Framework
• Googlebot (explains how Google’s web crawling bot works)
– https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/182072?hl=en
• “Google Launches Knowledge Graph to Provide Answers, Not Just Links”
– http://searchengineland.com/google-launches-knowledge-graph-121585

49. Resources
• BIBFRAME home page
– http://bibframe.org/
• LC’s BIBFRAME page
– https://www.loc.gov/bibframe/
• “MARC21 to BIBFRAME: Outcomes, Possibilities, and New
Directions” (New Zealand Library and Information Management
Journal, v. 55, no. 1, Dec. 2014):
– http://www.lianza.org.nz/sites/default/files/NZLIMJ%20Vol%2055%20Issue%
201%20Dec%202014%20-%20Rollitt.pdf
• Denver PL’s BIBFRAME pilot and conversion of 840,000 MARC
records to BIBFRAME resources:
– http://copia.posthaven.com/denver-public-library-data-pilot-release
– http://copia.posthaven.com/early-progress-on-denver-public-library-slash-
number-visiblelibrary
– https://www.denverlibrary.org/blog/rachel-f/dpl-announces-linked-data-
launch

50. OCLC Research Publications
• “Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources: A Report to theOCLC Membership” (290
pages, 2005)
– https://www.oclc.org/content/dam/oclc/reports/pdfs/Percept_all.pdf
• “The Library in the Life of the User: Engaging with PeopleWhereThey Live and Learn” (2015)
– http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/2015/oclcresearch-library-in-life-of-user.html
• “Shaping the Library to the Life of the User: Adapting, Empowering, Partnering, Engaging” (2015)
– http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/2015/oclcresearch-shaping-library-to-life-of-user-2015.html
• “The Relationship between BIBFRAME andOCLC’s Linked-Data Model of Bibliographic
Description:AWorking Paper” – Carol Jean Godby, Senior Research Scientist,OCLC Research
(2013)
– http://www.oclc.org/content/dam/research/publications/library/2013/2013-05.pdf
• “Common Ground: Exploring Compatibilities Between the Linked Data Models of the Library of
Congress andOCLC” – Carol Jean Godby, OCLC Research; Ray Denenberg, Library of Congress
(2015)
– http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/2015/oclcresearch-loc-linked-data-2015.html
• Library Linked Data in the Cloud: OCLC’s Experiments with New Models of Resource Description –
Carol Jean Godby, ShenghuiWang, Jeffery K. Mixter (140 pages, 2015)
– http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/2015/oclcresearch-library-linked-data-in-the-cloud.html

51. Questions?
Andrea Kappler
Cataloging Manager
EvansvilleVanderburgh Public Library
andreak@evpl.org
812-428-8398