This document introduces BDS as a metadata partner that can streamline metadata workflows for academic libraries through their new ALL (Academic Library Licence) service. The ALL is designed to meet the requirements of UK and Irish academic libraries by providing high-quality, book-in-hand MARC records for new print and ebook titles directly from BDS or via participating stock suppliers. The ALL aims to establish a sustainable model for metadata creation and sharing that reduces duplication of effort and provides consistent, fit-for-purpose records to support library operations and users.

1. BDS – Your metadata partner
Streamlining Metadata Workflows with the ALL
Heather Sherman
DIRECTOR OF ACADEMIC LIBRARY OPERATIONS
Bibliographic Data Services
heather.sherman@bdslive.com

2. BDS – Your metadata partner
Who are BDS?
• Bibliographic Data Services Ltd
• Privately owned, British company, established in 1995
• Employ over 60 staff
• Based in Dumfries, South-West Scotland
• A Living Wage employer
• Provider of records to academic libraries for over 25 years

3. BDS – Your metadata partner
Background
Converging factors
• Jisc Remodeling the UK Data Marketplace report
• NAG Quality of Shelf-Ready Metadata report
• Plan M for metadata
• Launch of the National Bibliographic Knowledgebase
• Growing recognition of the value & cost of high-quality metadata
• Demographic issues around the recruitment of cataloguers
• Move to linked data
• Importance of sustainable procurement

4. BDS – Your metadata partner
Jisc Remodeling the UK Data Marketplace
Quality of metadata
• Libraries spend considerable amounts of money on acquiring metadata, too frequently it is not fit for purpose.
• Librarians spend a great deal of effort correcting bibliographic metadata that they have purchased.
Metadata infrastructure
• Many channels through which metadata is made available, and none is viewed as entirely fit for purpose.
• The landscape is messy, metadata flows from player to player, often being stripped of prior intellectual input

5. BDS – Your metadata partner
Impact of poor metadata
Quality
• 2020 NAG Quality of Shelf Ready metadata report
o 25% dissatisfied with the quality of supplied shelf-ready records
o 88% perform quality control on shelf-ready records from suppliers
o 96% correct errors
Users
• Analysis from a UK HEI, responsible for 15% of Helpdesk enquiries
• Contributes to poor user experience
• Prevents users finding resources
• Can cause resources to be underutilised

6. BDS – Your metadata partner
Plan M
Objectives
1. Establish a fair and sustainable ‘pay to share’ bibliographic data ecosystem
2. A data supply chain that delivers ‘fit-for-purpose’ records as early as possible
3. Streamline workflows for libraries and suppliers
4. Reduce duplication of effort across the community
5. Cut down the number of places from which libraries source their records
6. An infrastructure that allows easy acquisition & re-sharing of quality records
7. The metadata associated with ‘routine acquisition’ is regarded as a solved issue

7. BDS – Your metadata partner
What is the ALL?
• Completely new service offering radical change
• Created in close consultation with stock suppliers and SUPC
• Designed to meet the specific requirements and buying patterns of UK and Irish academic libraries
• Jisc banded, annual subscription for the creation, curation, & supply of data direct from BDS or via stock suppliers
• Licence permits sharing and reuse of records, and contribution to agreed library sector database & knowledgebases
o Alma Community Zone
o Base
o OCLC WorldCat
o Jisc NBK Compare, Jisc NBK Discover

8. BDS – Your metadata partner
Coverage
Orders
• English language print, ebook or open access titles
• Published after 1st January 2010 or before 2010 for existing records
• All records are RDA compliant and created with the book in hand
Existing holdings and donations
• Access to the BDS database of book in hand and CIP records for upgrading existing holdings, donations, unpurchased
PDA / EBA titles etc

9. BDS – Your metadata partner
ALL Overview
• Detailed specifications created with SUPC and NAG
• Records meet SUPC essential / essential when applicable metadata requirements
• eBook records meet NISO Metadata Recommended Practice
• Publishers provide access to frontlist / backlist print, e-books & open access titles
• All records created by expert cataloguers
• BDS hold a single record per title
• Dedicated Helpdesk
• Customer User Group

10. BDS – Your metadata partner
Participating stock suppliers

11. BDS – Your metadata partner
Automated workflow
Hands-off workflow for the requesting and delivery of high-quality customised records for orders

12. BDS – Your metadata partner
Automated workflow
Purchase order is created
and sent to supplier
Daily report sends order
and invoice details to BDS
including unique id
BDS process the report
provide book in hand
MARC records*
Import profile fetches the
records and matches to
resources in using unique
*Notification of hits, misses and out of scope ISBNs sent to library, and vendor neutral records sent to
participating stock suppliers

13. BDS – Your metadata partner
Linked data
Solid foundation for implementing linked data
• High quality book in hand records with consistent and correct MARC encoding
• Extensive use of controlled vocabularies and standard authorities
• Records will include ISNIs and FAST, and are compatible with BibFrame
Services to make the transition to linked data easier
• Investigating options for adding ISNIs retrospectively
• Planning cross-walk services between ISNI and NACO, ORCID and more
BDS is an ISNI Registration Agency
• Assign ISNIs to authors, contributors, researchers, publishers …

14. BDS – Your metadata partner
Sustainability
ALL helps libraries reduce their carbon footprint
• Centralising cataloguing activities rather than dispersing across many institutions
• Creating a record once, then reusing
• Using digital surrogates for book in hand records
• Efficiently creating metadata
“Productivity levels were benchmarked against three leading
Institutions in the production of English-language metadata.
In each case BDS was found to be significantly more productive.”
BDO LLP

15. BDS – Your metadata partner
Plan M
1. Establish a fair and sustainable ‘pay to share’ bibliographic data ecosystem 
• Pricing based on Jisc banding
• ALL price replaces current payments stock suppliers
• BDS has provided the Public Library Licence for over 20 years
2. A data supply chain that delivers ‘fit-for-purpose’ records as early as possible 
• Records meet SUPC, NAG and NISO standards
• Existing records sent immediately, upgraded records within 2 working days
• Records created ahead of publication for core titles

16. BDS – Your metadata partner
Plan M
3. Streamline workflows for libraries and suppliers 
• Suppliers no longer need to catalogue titles
• Works seamlessly with existing shelf ready setups
• Option for completely automated workflow
• Facilitates direct delivery
4. Reduce duplication of effort across the community 
• BDS takes responsibility for the creation, curation and supply of records
• A single record is created and used multiple times
• Licence allows records to be reused, shared & added to union catalogues and knowledgebases

17. BDS – Your metadata partner
Plan M
5. Cut down the number of places from which libraries source their records 
• Records come from one source, BDS
• No need to spend time searching for records
6. An infrastructure that allows easy acquisition & re-sharing of quality records 
• Automated workflow for the hands-off requesting & ingesting of records
• Licence allows records to be reused, shared & added to union catalogues and knowledgebases

18. BDS – Your metadata partner
Plan M
7. The metadata associated with ‘routine acquisition’ is regarded as a solved issue 
• SUPC, NAG & NISO compliant records for English language, print, ebooks and open access titles
• No need to spend time searching for records
• Free up expert resources to focus on Special Collections, Research Metadata, Reading Lists etc

19. BDS – Your metadata partner
Andrew Knight, Acquisitions and Content Services Manager
“The issue of poor or variable quality bibliographic metadata has been ongoing in the sector for a
number of years, we see the BDS Academic Library Licence as a way of consolidating our supply,
ensuring predictable costs, and guaranteeing a level of consistency."