At the IFLA Linked Data Special Interest Group open session in Wroclaw we briefly introduced the mission of the SIG and then went on to a brief introduction to what linked data is and why that topic is important to libraries. The presentation was held jointly by Astrid Verheusen (general introduction to the SIG) and Lars G. Svensson (introduction to Linked Data)

1. IFLA – Linked Data Special Interest Group
(LIDASIG)
Welcome to the open discussion session of the SIG !
News / contact / join : https://www.ifla.org/lidasig

2. Milan 2009 :
- Satellite meeting “Emerging trends in technology: libraries between
Web 2.0, semantic web and search technology”
- First thoughts of creating a Semantic Web working group within the
IT section
Göteborg 2010 :
- Open session “Libraries and the semantic Web”
Puerto Rico 2011 :
- First meeting of the SIG
Helsinki 2012 :
- Official approval of the SIG by IFLA and 2nd meeting of the SIG
Singapore 2013 :
- Satellite meeting “User interaction based on library linked data” and
1st
open discussion session
About the SIG – previous WLICs

3. About the SIG – previous WLICs
Lyon 2014 :
- Satellite meeting “Library Linked Data : Let's make it happen !”
- SIG business meeting and open discussion session, first
discussions on the change of name and relationship to LIDATEC
Cape Town 2015 :
- SIG open discussion session
Columbus 2016 :
- Satellite meeting “Data in libraries: the big picture” (Chicago, Aug.
10th)
- SIG open discussion session
About 100 Subscribers on the mailing list

4. About Linked Data & the SIG
Linked Data is hot!
Quotes…
1. There is no future for libraries without Linked Data!
2. Linked Data allow libraries to maintain relevance in the digital
age!
3. Linked Data enable libraries to be discoverable on the Web!
4. Because of Linked Data everybody can join the party!
About 100 Subscribers on the mailing list, but we need more

5. • To be an open place to discuss subjects related to Linked Data
and Semantic Web in libraries
• To strengthen and transform the professional knowledge of
libraries in the Linked Data and semantic web area by providing
education and information to IFLA professionals
• To provide a place where librarians can share, discuss,
advocate and explain technological evolutions related to the
implementation of Linked Data in libraries
• To provide a place where the changes brought forward by
other units such as LIDATEC can be introduced to a wider
audience
Missions of the LIDASIG

6. Introducing the new convenor!
Astrid Verheusen
Former: National library of the Netherlands (KB)
Present : LIBER
Evviva Weinraub
Northwestern Libraries
New convenor of the SIG in 2017
PhotobyFriedelGrant(CCBY)Photocredits:NULPublicRelations

7. Linked Data in Libraries
What is linked data and where are we today?
Overview by Lars Svensson

8. People in want of information today
don‘t go to the library

9. However, the data libraries create
can help making search more efficient
There it is!
WOW!
PhotobyWendtCommons(CCBY):http://www.flickr.com/photos/wendt-library/5190902316/

10. Outside of libraries, they usually don‘t
understand our data formats
MARC 21
MAB 2
Z39.50
ISBD
UNIMARC
IFLA-LRM
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/159/342220423_558ea703f6_b.jpg

11. PhotobyKIUIStaff(CCBY):http://www.flickr.com/photos/
kiui/3693823005/
Library
data
Other
data
Some
data
And yet it should be easy to re-use
library information

12. Linked Library Data is a good start
LinkingOpenDataclouddiagram2017,byAndrejsAbele,JohnP.McCrae,
PaulBuitelaar,AnjaJentzschandRichardCyganiak.http://lod-cloud.net/

13. http://d-nb.info/
1118566300
“Pan Tadeusz oder
Die letzte Fehde in Litauen”
Subject
Predicate
Object
hasTitle
The Semantic Web has a fairly simple
data model: RDF (Resource Description
Framework)

14. http://d-nb.info/
1118566300
“Pan Tadeusz oder
Die letzte Fehde in Litauen”
http://d-nb.info/gnd/11873377X
Subject
Predicate
Object
Subject
Predicate
Object
hasAuthor
hasTitle
The Semantic Web has a simple data
model: RDF

15. http://d-nb.info/
1118566300
“Pan Tadeusz oder
Die letzte Fehde in Litauen”
http://d-nb.info/gnd/11873377X
“Mickiewicz, Adam”
Subject
Predicate
Object
Subject
Predicate
Object
Subject
Predicate
Object
hasAuthor
hasTitle
hasName
The Semantic Web has a simple data
model: RDF

16. http://d-nb.info/
1118566300
“Pan Tadeusz oder
Die letzte Fehde in Litauen”
http://d-nb.info/gnd/11873377X
“Mickiewicz, Adam”
hasAuthor
hasTitle
hasName
bibo:Book
dc:creator
dc:title
foaf:name
foaf:Person
rdf:type
rdf:type
Vocabularies define Classes (types) of
resources and Properties (the relations
between them)

17. http://d-nb.info/
1118566300
“Pan Tadeusz oder
Die letzte Fehde in Litauen”
http://d-nb.info/gnd/11873377X
“Mickiewicz, Adam”
hasAuthor
hasTitle
hasName
bibo:Book
dc:creator
dc:title
foaf:name
foaf:Person
rdf:type
rdf:type
In RDF, all resources in subject or
predicate position must have unique
identifiers

18. • We want to identify everything
• Objects/Resources must be globally identifiable
• The Identifiers must be compatible to the generic
URI-Syntax
– http-URIs (http://d-nb.info/gnd/118915185)
– URNs (urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-23317)
– mailto (mailto:l.svensson@dnb.de)
• With different kinds of identifiers come different
kinds of expectations
– Resource persistence
– Resolvability
Unique identifiers ensure that we know
what we‘re talking about

19. Title
• Document title (dc:title)
• Personal title (foaf:title)
• Academic title (gndo:academicDegree)
• Course title (crsw:has-title)
• …
If two things have the same name but
different URIs, we can tell them apart

20. URIs can look differently
• dc:title vs. http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/title
• foaf:title vs. http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/title
• gndo:academicDegree vs. http://d-
nb.info/standards/elementset/gnd#academicDegre
e
• crsw:has-title vs.
http://courseware.rkbexplorer.com/ontologies/cour
seware#has-title
dc, foaf, gndo und crsw are prefixes, you can look them
up e. g. at http://prefix.cc
something:like-this is called a CURIE (compact URI)

21. • RDF/XML
• Turtle
• N-Triples
• JSON-LD
• …
In order for computers to understand
RDF, we need so-called serialisations

22. http://d-nb.info/
1118566300
“Pan Tadeusz oder
Die letzte Fehde in Litauen”
http://d-nb.info/gnd/11873377X
“Mickiewicz, Adam”
bibo:Book
dc:creator
dc:title
foaf:name
foaf:Person
rdf:type
rdf:type
In order to see how serialisations work,
let‘s return to Adam Mickiewicz

23. <rdf:RDF xmlns:foaf=“http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/”
xmlns:dc=“http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/”
xmlns:dct=“http://purl.org/dc/terms/”
xmlns:bibo=“http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/”>
<bibo:Book rdf:about=“http://d-nb.info/1118566300”>
<dc:title>Pan Tadeusz oder Die letzte Fehde in Litauen</dc:title>
<dct:creator rdf:resource=“http://d-nb.info/gnd/11873377X” />
</bibo:Book>
<foaf:Person rdf:about=“http://d-nb.info/gnd/11873377X”>
<foaf:name>Mickiewicz, Adam</foaf:name>
</foaf:Person>
</rdf:RDF>
Adam Mickiewicz in RDF/XML is hard on
your eyes…

24. @prefix foaf: <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/> .
@prefix dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/> .
@prefix dct: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
@prefix bibo: <http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/> .
<http://d-nb.info/1118566300> a bibo:Book;
dc:title “Pan Tadeusz oder Die letzte Fehde in Litauen“ ;
dct:creator <http://d-nb.info/gnd/11873377X> .
<http://d-nb.info/gnd/11873377X> a foaf:Person ;
foaf:name “Mickiewicz, Adam” .
Adam Mickiewicz in Turtle is easier to
read

25. {
"@context" : {
"dc" : "http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/",
"dcterms" : "http://purl.org/dc/terms/",
"foaf" : "http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"
},
"@graph" : [ {
"@id" : "http://d-nb.info/gnd/11873377X",
"@type" : "foaf:Person",
"foaf:name" : "Mickiewicz, Adam"
}, {
"@id" : "http://d-nb.info/1118566300 ",
"@type" : "http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/Book",
"dc:title" : "Pan Tadeusz oder Die letzte Fehde in Litauen",
"dcterms:creator" : {
"@id" : "http://d-nb.info/gnd/11873377X" }
} ]
}
Adam Mickiewicz in JSON-LD
is popular among web developers

26. PREFIX dc: <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/>
PREFIX foaf: <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/>
PREFIX dct: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/>
SELECT ?title
WHERE {
?book dc:title ?title ;
dct:creator ?author .
?author foaf:name "Mickiewicz, Adam" .
}
Querying of RDF-Data can be done
through SPARQL

27. 1. Use URIs as names for things
2. Use HTTP URIs so that people can look up those
names.
3. When someone looks up a URI, provide useful
information, using the standards (RDF*, SPARQL)
4. Include links to other URIs so that they can
discover more things.
Linked Data builds on all of those things
we just talked about
http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html

28. So what are libraries doing with this?

29. Some national libraries publish their data
as linked data using RDF

30. A consortium of US research libraries are
piloting linked data for production

31. Outside of libraries, they usually don‘t
understand our data formats
MARC 21
MAB 2
Z39.50
ISBD
UNIMARC
IFLA-LRM
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/159/342220423_558ea703f6_b.jpg

32. And yet it should be easy
to re-use library information
PhotobyKIUIStaff(CCBY):http://www.flickr.com/photos/
kiui/3693823005/
Library
data
Other
data
Some
data

33. Linked Library Data is a good start
LinkingOpenDataclouddiagram2017,byAndrejsAbele,JohnP.McCrae,
PaulBuitelaar,AnjaJentzschandRichardCyganiak.http://lod-cloud.net/

34. Callimachos catalogued for Alexandria; today
we catalogue for the World Wide Web
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Tim_Berners-Lee_CP_2_head_crop.jpg
PhotobyMaryHarrsch(CCBY-NC-SA)http://www.flickr.com/photos/mharrsch/2522112120/

35. Concept of the open discussion session
– To share recipes and best practices
– To ask questions you never dared to ask
– To raise new topics for future discussion
WE NEED YOU !!!
The output of today's discussion will be input for the
future of this group

36. 4 discussion topics
Library
Linked Data
for beginners
Linked Data and
the Bibliographic
Transition
Using and
reusing
Linked Data
Linked / Big /
Open Data: the big
picture
– split in 4+ groups
– 30 to 40 minutes discussion
– 5 minutes report from each group

37. Facilitators
• Maria Kadesjö
• Viktoria Lundborg
• Harriet Aagaard
• Astrid Verheusen