This document summarizes a workshop on application profiles held on August 12, 2019. It discusses the purpose and components of application profiles, including choosing which RDA elements and instructions to include, how to document profiles, and issues around developing and managing profiles for different communities and institutions. The workshop covered drivers of choice in RDA, characteristics of application profiles, ways to specify elements and parameters in a profile, and options for documenting profiles, with the goal of helping participants understand and implement application profiles.

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Application profiles
Gordon Dunsire, RDA Technical Team Liaison Officer

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Learning objectives
1. Understanding of the general purpose, components,
and utility of an application profile.
2. Practical knowledge of methods for implementing
and using an application profile with RDA Toolkit.
3. Appreciation of issues in the development and
management of RDA application profiles for
institutions and communities

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Overview
1. Choice in RDA Toolkit.
2. Application profile characteristics.
3. Documentation, management, development

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August 12, 20194
Choice in original RDA:
Access point components

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Choice in original RDA:
Recording methods

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August 12, 20196
Choice in original RDA:
Relationship granularity

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Choice in original RDA:
Embedded options

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Choice in original RDA:
Explicit options

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Choice in original RDA:
Alternative instructions

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Drivers of choice
International governance structure
RDA Board strategic markets:
• International communities
• Cultural heritage communities
• Linked data communities
2011:
DNB joins RDA
governance
structure
2019:
3R says (nearly)
every instruction
is an alternative
(optional)

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Choice in new Toolkit
Several levels of modularization
Entities
Elements
Recording methods
Optional instructions
Judgement
Specification
Context

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Choice and consistency
RDA entities and elements are consistent with the IFLA Library
Reference Model, with coherent semantics
Local values of an element vary naturally (e.g. source),
culturally (e.g. language, naming conventions), by
policy (e.g. audience), etc.
There is no one-size-fits-all
Assured levels of global interoperability of RDA metadata
Element hierarchies, reciprocals, equal prominence
Global things described with local strings

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Pause
Questions?

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Application profile
And more!
Originally developed by Dublin Core Metadata Initiative

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Front-end to RDA Toolkit
What elements, etc. to use
Data input form
e.g. ALA preconference workshop, RIMMF
Data validation
Metadata conformance, quality control, etc.
Data extraction
What to select from external metadata sources
Utility of profile

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Profile characteristics
An application profile typically specifies:
• The elements to be recorded as a metadata
description set for an entity
• The mandatory and repeatability status of each
element
• The vocabulary encoding scheme to be used as a
source of data for an element
• The string encoding scheme to be used to assemble
the data for an element

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RDA application profile
Selects only RDA elements
Additional parameters that are unique to RDA:
• Links to RDA instructions at multiple levels
• The recording method to be used for an element,
where a choice is available
• The optional instruction to be applied to an
element
• The policy statement to be applied to an element

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Specifying an RDA element
An RDA element is referenced by its Toolkit
label, Registry label, identifier, or IRI
Each is unique
Reference
RDA Toolkit label content type
RDA Registry label has content type
Identifier (compact URI) rdae:P20001
IRI http://rdaregistry.info/Elements/e/P20001

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Specifying mandatory
status
Mandatory status of element is indicated
by the minimum number of occurrences
0 = optional
1 (or more) = mandatory
Element Minimum occurrence
content type 1

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Specifying repeatability
status
Repeatability status of element is indicated
by the maximum number of occurrences
unspecified = repeatable
1 = not repeatable
Element Maximum occurrence
content type 1

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VES
Provides:
Controlled values of attributes
Access points, identifiers, and IRIs of instances
of entities

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Specifying a VES
Element Vocabulary encoding scheme
content type RDA Content Type

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Specifying a non-RDA VES
Element Vocabulary encoding scheme
content type LC Content Types Scheme

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SES
Specifies:
Values that are included in a compound string
Elements
Fixed text
Sequence and punctuation

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SES example
Element String encoding scheme
content type RDA SES name/label?

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Link to element instructions
Element Link to instructions
content type https://beta.rdatoolkit.org/en-US_ala-
1a6a5219-2cd5-3762-87e8-6ee28e327b8b

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Recording method
Element Recording method
content type IRI

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Link to recording method
Element Link to recording method
content type https://beta.rdatoolkit.org/en-US_ala-
1a6a5219-2cd5-3762-87e8-
6ee28e327b8b/21909860-842e-4203-9b3b-
3a0ad496bcab

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Link to optional instruction
Element Link to option
content type https://beta.rdatoolkit.org/en-US_ala-
1a6a5219-2cd5-3762-87e8-
6ee28e327b8b/div_lvw_mkr_p2b

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Pause
Questions?

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Profile documentation
Profile may be documented in various formats
From Narrative (unstructured):
“Record at least one content type taken from
the RDA Content Type vocabulary.”
To Machine-readable: Several linked data
vocabularies available

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Toolkit notes
Simple, unstructured, personal application profile

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Policy statements
Institutional/international profile

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Tabular layout
Element pA pB pC pD pE pF pG Application notes
Element 1
Element 2
Element 3
…
Each row specifies a separate element
Each column specifies a profile parameter for
the element
Spreadsheet, word-processor, database

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Application categories
Resource type
Audio-visual; Rare materials; Manuscripts; etc.
Sector
Public; Academic; School; etc.
Community
Geographic; Cultural; Language; etc.

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Coherent description: “primary” relationship elements
Minimum description: appellation elements
Effective description:
general and specialized elements
Layered/nested profile

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RSC Application Profiles
Working Group
Task-and-finish group; start in Fall 2019?
• Profile architectures (nested, combined, etc.)
• Profile management
• Guidance and documentation
• Technical issues in liaison with RSC Technical
Working Group
• Encoding formats

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Thank you!
Questions?