This document provides an overview of semantic web technologies and their role in advancing digital library functions. It begins with definitions of semantic web, its main components like RDF, OWL and ontology. It then discusses functions of digital libraries like access to information, support for multimedia and advanced search. The key role of semantic web for digital libraries is described as representing various types of objects and relations between them to provide meaningful data that can be processed by computers. Technologies like XML, RDF and ontology help achieve this by annotating and describing data in a structured format. Finally, semantic web allows for improved resource sharing and networking across digital libraries by making data interoperable and extending its accessibility.

1. Centre for Library and Information Management Studies
Sir Dorabji Tata Memorial Library
TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
DEONAR, MUMBAI – 400088
ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSION
Enrolment No :- M2014MliSc013
Programme :- Master of Library and Information Science (MLISc)
Course Title :- Semantic Web Technologies
Course Code :- LIS-17 Semester : IV
Assignment Title :- Role of Semantic Web In Advance Digital Library Functions? Explain Briefly
Course Teacher :- Dr. J Shivarama
Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction............................................................................................................................................

2. 2.0 What is Semantic Web...........................................................................................................................
3.0 Main Components of Semantic Web......................................................................................................
4.0 Function of Digital Library....................................................................................................................
5.0 Role of Semantic Web............................................................................................................................
6.0 Semantic Web technologies...................................................................................................................
7.0 Resource Sharing and Networking........................................................................................................
8.0 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................
Introduction : was in invented in 1989 by a graduate of Oxford University, England; his name was
Tim-Berners Lee. He was responsible for writing the first web client and server in 1990 at CERN
(which is the European Particle Physics Laboratory). His vision was to design an internet-based
hypermedia system which would facilitate the uploading of information from all corners of the globe so
that everyone could benefit from that knowledge. The later developments in the web witnessed the
evolution of ‘Semantic Web’, which was similarly derived from the vision of Tim-Berners Lee in the
sense of making information global and universal for its users.
What is Semantic Web?
The Semantic Web is a Web of data. There is a lot of data we all use every day, and it's not part of the
Web.
The vision of the Semantic Web is to extend principles of the Web from documents to data. Data should
be accessed using the general Web architecture using, e.g., URI-s; data should be related to one another
just as documents (or portions of documents) are already. This also means creation of a common

3. framework that allows data to be shared and reused across application, enterprise, and community
boundaries, to be processed automatically by tools as well as manually, including revealing possible
new relationships among pieces of data
Semantic Web technologies can be used in a variety of application areas; for example: in data
integration, whereby data in various locations and various formats can be integrated in one,
application; in resource discovery and classification to provide better, domain specific search engine
capabilities; in cataloging for describing the content and content relationships available at a particular
Web site, page, or digital library; by intelligent software agents to facilitate knowledge sharing and
exchange; in content rating; in describing collections of pages that represent a single logical
“document”; for describing intellectual property rights of Web pages.
Semantic Web extends the meaning (semantic) of information by enabling the web to comprehend the
demands of the user and computers so that they can utilise the web for information. Semantic Web is
based on a set of design principles and the concept of providing useful results to the user Importantly,
the web offered services and information which were comprehended by humansalone; however, in
contrast,semantic web is able to produce information in a manner that can be understood by computers.
Some of the main technologies of Semantic Web are:
Main Components of Semantic Web
RDF: initially implemented as a metadata data model. With the passage of the years, it has evolved
into a mode of conceptual description and a mechanism to provide more meaning to information on the
web.
Ontology: can be described as the method of representing information in a formal and structured
manner with the aid of a set of concepts and their respective relationships.
OWL: described as the set of information modelling languages which can be utilised in order to
produce ontologies
XML: is a simple language that permits users create their own tags in order to annotate Web
documents. It provides an elemental syntax for content structure within document
Advance digital library :
Digital libraries will start gaining ground in India in the present century. We are heading toward an

4. environment in which digital information may substitute for much print-based information. A library's
existence does not depend on the physical form of documents. Its mission is to link the past and the
present, and help shape the future by preserving the records of human culture, as well as integrating
emerging information technologies. This mission is unlikely to change in the near future.
Digital libraries come in many forms. They attempt to provide instant access to digitized information
and consist of a variety of information, including multimedia
Function of Digital Library
• Access to large amounts of information to users wherever they are and whenever they need it.
• Access to primary information sources.
• Support multimedia content along with text
• Network accessibility on Intranet and Internet
• User-friendly interface
• Hypertext links for navigation
• Client-server architecture
• Advanced search and retrieval.
• Integration with other digital libraries.
Role of Semantic Web :
The semantic Web contains resources corresponding not just to media objects (such as Webpages,
images, audio clips, etc.) as the current Web does, but also objects such as people, places, organisation
and events. Further, the semantic Web will contain not just a single kind of relation (the hyperlink)
between resources, but many different kinds of relations amongst the different kinds of resources
XML is a simple language that permits users create their own tags in order to annotate Web documents.
It provides an elemental syntax for content structure within documents. XML Schema is a language for
providing and restricting the structure and content of elements contained within XML documents.
While an XML document is a tree, an Resource Description Framework (RDF) document consists of
sets of triples. Each triple contains a subject, predicate and an object. These triples can be written using
XML tags. RDF is a simple language for expressing data models, which refer to objects (“resources”)
and their relationships. An RDF-based model can be represented in XML syntax. In RDF, a document
makes assertions that things have properties, and this is how most of the data can be described and

5. further processed by the computers.
RDF schema extends RDF and is a vocabulary for describing properties and classes of RDF-based
resources, with semantics for generalised-hierarchies of such properties and classes. XML and RDF are
twocomplimentary technologies used to build an intelligent Web. RDF model uses vocabulary defined
by the terms of ontology. The combination of an RDF model and the associated XML gives the
computer enough information to discover the meaning of data. Data about other data is
Various semantic Web technologies.
Resource Sharing and Networking:
1) increase availability of resources
2) extend the accessibility of resources
3) diminish cost, and
4) promote full utilization of resources
Conclusion
The Semantic Web
XML, RDF, Metadata,
Ontology
Metadata Storage,
Database Storage,
Technologies
Information/
Knowledge mangement

6. The vision of the Semantic Web is to extend principles of the Web from documents to data. Data should
be accessed using the general Web architecture using URI
References :
W3C Semantic Web Frequently Asked Questions. (n.d.). Retrieved February 6, 2016, from
https://www.w3.org/RDF/FAQ
Alotaibi, S. J. (2010, July 31). Alo taibi, S. (2010) Semantic Web Technologies for Digital Libraries:

7. From Libraries to Social Semantic Digital Libraries (SSDL), Over Semantic Digital Libraries (SDL)
Retrieved February 6, 2016, from http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/271459/9/sic2010_submission_118_-
_Complete.pdf
Digital Libraries: Functionality, Usability, and Accessibility. (n.d.). Retrieved February 5, 2016, from
http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~mbolin/trivedi-diglib.html
Shivaram , J. ( February 1, 2016). Personal Communication in Semantic Web Lecture, Tiss , Mumbai
Giri, K. (2011, March). Role of Ontology in Semantic Web. Retrieved February 5, 2016, from
http://publications.drdo.gov.in/ojs/index.php/djlit/article/viewFile/863/364