RDA vocabularies and concepts

Gordon DunsireDepute Director, Centre for Digital Library Research

University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland

Presented to staff of the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh20 Jul 2009

Overview

Part 1: Introduction to RDABenefits to users and cataloguersCollaboration with other communities/standards

Q/A and breakPart 2: Introduction to the Semantic Web

Concepts and methodsRole of the library community

Q/A and breakPart 3: Putting it all together

A short history of the evolution of the catalogue record

RDA vocabularies and concepts

Part 1:

Introduction to RDA

RDA

Resource Description and AccessA new standard for creating bibliographic

metadataBased on the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules

In development since 1841 (Panizzi’s rules for the British Museum)

And FRBR and other more modern stuffFunctional Requirements for Bibliographic RecordsDeveloped by the International Federation of Library

Associations and Institutions (IFLA)Published 1998

User-centred features of RDA (1)

Improves the FRBRizability of cataloguesCovers all types of user

Those who need to find, identify, select, obtain and use information, and manage and organize information bibliographically

Covers all mediaPrint-based, digital; textual, visual, etc.

Equal, even treatment gives more control to the user in finding and choosing the most appropriate resources

FRBRisation

Work

Expression 1

Manifestation 1.1

Item 1.1.1

Expression 2

Manifestation 2.1 Manifestation 2.2

Item 2.1.1 Item 2.2.1 Item 2.2.2

Is realised through

Is embodied in

Is exemplified by

Symphony no.1

LSO performance

DVD-A

Copy on shelf

User-centred features of RDA (2)

Clearly distinguishes content from carrierE.g. Moving pictures on DVD; text on CD-ROMHelpful for users with special needs

E.g. restrict search to non-visual resources

MultinationalAnglo-centricity (and cataloguer-eccentricity)

removedAbbreviations and acronyms avoidedLatinisms removed

Farewell s.n., s.l., et al.

[Still arguing about square brackets!]

User-centred features of RDA (3)

Independent of technical metadata formatsCan be used with MARC, DC (Dublin Core)

And a whole bunch of other acronyms

Gives user familiar metadata regardless of what system is used

Designed for the digital environmentRDA will be published as an online product

So could be incorporated in user help facilitiesE.g. How a “preferred title for the work” (uniform title) is

derived

Cataloguer-centred features of RDA (1)

Online product designed to interface and integrate with cataloguing modulesWork-flow integration will give step-by-step and

contextual access to content rulesPossibility of adding local examplesPossibility of “myRDA”, removing unwanted rules

and unused optionsLMS vendors being kept informedAvoidance of repetitive strain injury

Looking for that rule on corporate body main entry in AARC2

Cataloguer-centred features of RDA (2)

More emphasis on cataloguer’s judgmentGuidelines rather than “rules”

Rules grouped by bibliographic element rather than format

Bibliographic elements related to FRBR entities (related to user tasks)Why am I recording this information?

Authority control includedGenerally compatible with AACR

RDA and ONIX

ONIX (Online Information Exchange )Publishing industry metadata standard

2 day workshop, March 2006, British Library, LondonRDA Editor, ONIX reps, facilitatorFollowed up via email and tele-con

RDA/ONIX framework for resource categorization, August 2006Distinguishes content from carrier (at last!)

Intention to extend frameworkStatus: Resources permitting – now permitted!

RDA and DCMI

DCMI (Dublin Core Metadata Initiative)2 day meeting, April/May 2007, British

Library, LondonRDA Editor, reps for RDA, DC and related

Semantic Web communitiesEstablished the DCMI RDA Task GroupOperates via wiki, email, tele-con, meetings at

DC annual conferencesCharter: To define components of the draft

standard "RDA - Resource Description and Access" as an RDF vocabulary for use in developing a Dublin Core application profile.

Status: Ongoing, but nearly complete

RDA and FRBR

FRBR Review Group, August 2007, WLIC (IFLA), Durban, South Africa

New project: To define appropriate namespaces for FRBR (entity-relationship) in RDF and other appropriate syntaxesStatus: Report and recommendations discussed

at WLIC, Québec City, CanadaDelayed by IFLA website re-organisation

FRBR recently extended to Object-oriented FRBR (FRBRoo)Based on CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model

(CRM)

RDA and FRAD

Functional Requirements for Authority DataPublished in May 2009Likely to be included in the FRBR namespace

projectRDA designed to be FRAD-ready

Generalities already incorporated, with place-holders, etc.

FRAD “Family” entity used in RDAFRBR only defines person and corporate body entities

RDA/ONIX framework

An ontology developed by RDA and the publishing community to improve metadata interoperability

Set of low-level attributes for describing the content and carrier of a bibliographic resource

Controlled vocabularies for some attributesAttributes combined to form high-level

content and carrier types for RDA

RDA/ONIX framework example

RDA content type “spoken word” High-level label for a framework base content category

Category attributes Character: Language SensoryMode: Hearing ImageDimensionality: not applicable ImageMovement: not applicable

User: what resources have content I can listen to? = OPAC: what content types have SensoryMode: Hearing?

(“Spoken word”; “Performed music”; etc.)

then OPAC: list bib records with these content types!

Vocabulary Mapping Framework (1)

JISC-funded project to extend the RDA/ONIX frameworkDue for completion early November 2009

Lead by publishing communityGD is consultant

Will develop an ontology/categorisation of relationships between/among bibliographic entities and agent entities (parties)E.g. Manifestion is-published-by Publisher; Work

is-created-by Author; Work is-derived-from WorkE.g. “Creator” > “Author”, “Collector”, “Illustrator”;

“Author” = “Writer”; etc.

Vocabulary Mapping Framework (2)

Relationship terms from several standards will be mapped to the ontologyCIDOC-CRM, RDA, FRBR, FRAD, MARC21, etc.

Mappings then provide a hub-and-spoke mapping between any pair of standardsEfficient, as direct pair mappings not requiredWill improve metadata interoperability in large-

scale, heterogeneous resource discovery services

Ontology, terms, mappings compatible with Semantic Web (namespaces, etc.)

RDA vocabularies and concepts

Part 2:

Introduction to the Semantic Web

A problem

Humans are very good at processing informationCreation, analysis, synthesis, communication

Some say this is what defines us

We have invented machines to process dataFaster, globally, non-stop

The result is the information eruptionThe Web: a continual explosion

Information professionals cannot keep upWe need our machines to process metadata

Semantic Web

“… an evolving extension of the [WWW] in which the semantics of information and services on the web is defined, making it possible for the web to understand and satisfy the requests of people and machines to use the web content.”Wikipedia, English, 10.08 15 Jul 2009

The basic building block is Resource Description Framework (RDF)

Resource Description Framework (RDF)

Simple metadata statements in the form of subject-predicate-object expressions, called triplesE.g. “This presentation” – “has creator” – “Gordon

Dunsire”

“presentation” and “creator” are metadata structure termsClasses and properties

“this ...” and “Gordon Dunsire” are metadata content termsInstances or values

Semantic Web applications

RDF Schema (RDFS)Expresses the structure of metadata classes and

properties

Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS)Expresses the basic structure and content of

concept schemes such as thesauri and other types of controlled vocabularies

Web Ontology Language (OWL)Explicitly represents the meaning of terms in

vocabularies and the relationships between them (scope, etc.)

Machine-processing

RDF is about making machine-processable statements, requiringA machine-processable language for

representing RDF statementsExtensible Markup Language (XML)

A system of machine-processable identifiers for resources (subjects, predicates, objects)

Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) For full machine-processing, an RDF statement is

a set of three URIs

Identifiers

Things requiring identification (a URI):Subject “This presentation”

e.g. its electronic location (URL): http://cdlr.strath.ac.uk/pubs/dunsireg/NLSRDA.pps

Predicate “has creator”e.g. http://purl.org/dc/terms/creator

Object “Gordon Dunsire”e.g. URI of entry in Library of Congress Name Authority

File: http://errol.oclc.org/laf/nb2001-72552.html

Declaring vocabularies/values as “namespaces” in Semantic Web applications provides URIs

RDA RDF vocabularies

Being added to the National Science Digital Library metadata registryStored in a databaseOutput as RDF(S)/SKOSAutomatic creation of a URI for each entry

Base domain: http://RDVocab.infoFirst part of every RDA vocabulary URIIdentifies the “namespace” or collection/set of

terms

RDA value in SKOS (part 1)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding = "UTF-8"?><rdf:RDF xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#" xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns:rdfs="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#" xmlns:skos="http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:reg="http://metadataregistry.org/uri/schema/registry/">

:<!-- NOTICE: This is a single-concept fragment -->:<!-- Scheme: RDA Content Type -->:<skos:ConceptScheme rdf:about="http://RDVocab.info/termList/RDAContentType">::<dc:title>RDA Content Type</dc:title>:</skos:ConceptScheme>

XML namespaces

SKOS

NSDL Registry

Vocabulary URI

RDA value in SKOS (part 2)

:<!-- Concept: spoken word -->:<skos:Concept rdf:about="http://RDVocab.info/termList/RDAContentType/1013" xml:lang="en">::<skos:inScheme rdf:resource="http://RDVocab.info/termList/RDAContentType"/>::<reg:status rdf:resource="http://metadataregistry.org/uri/RegStatus/1002"/>::<skos:prefLabel xml:lang="en">spoken word</skos:prefLabel>::<skos:definition xml:lang="en">Content expressed through language in an audible form.</skos:definition>::<skos:scopeNote xml:lang="en">Includes recorded readings, recitations, speeches, interviews, oral histories, etc., computer-generated speech, etc.</skos:scopeNote>::<skos:prefLabel xml:lang="de">gesprochene Worte</skos:prefLabel> <skos:scopeNote xml:lang="de">Umfasst aufgezeichnete Lesungen, Rezitationen, Reden, Interviews, mündliche Überlieferungen usw. und maschinell erzeugte Sprache.</skos:scopeNote>::<skos:definition xml:lang="de">Inhalt, der durch Sprache in einer hörbaren Form ausgedrückt wird.</skos:definition>:</skos:Concept>

Term URI

Term

Definition

Term (German)Registry status term URI

RDA value in SKOS (part 3)

:<!-- Status properties used in this document -->:<skos:Concept rdf:about="http://metadataregistry.org/uri/RegStatus/1002">::<skos:prefLabel xml:lang="en">New-Proposed</skos:prefLabel>:</skos:Concept></rdf:RDF

Registry status term URI

Registry status term

RDA content type “spoken word”

The term “spoken word” can be referenced as the value of the field “content type” in any metadata record using RDF/XML (Semantic Web):

…

xmlns:rdvct = http://RDVocab.info/termList/RDAContentype#

…

<… rdvct:1013 …>

…

The field/attribute/element “content type” can be referenced in a similar way to the RDF Schema for RDA elements being developed by DCMI/RDA

More library namespaces

IFLA bibliographic control standards Discussions during WLIC 2008, Québec City

RDF Schema for entities and relationships from Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR)

E.g. “Work”, “has Expression” / ”is Expression of” Others are likely to follow:

Functional Requirements for Authority Data (FRAD) International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD)

ISBD/XML Task Group

Functional Requirements for Subject Authority Data (FRSAD)

UNIMARC Library of Congress taking a similar approach with

MARC21

RDA vocabularies and concepts

Part 3:

Putting it all together

A short history

of the evolution

of the library catalogue record

Lee, T. B.

Cataloguing has a future. - Audio disc

(Spoken word). - Donated by the author.

1. Metadata

In the beginning ...

... the catalogue card

Author:

Title:

Content type:

Provenance:

Subject:

Lee, T. B.

Cataloguing has a future

Spoken word

Audio disc

Metadata

Donated by the author

Carrier type:

From flat-file record ...

... to relational record

Name:

Biography:

...

Name authority

Term:

Definition:

...

Subject authority

Bibliographic description

Author:

Title:

Content type:

Provenance:

Subject:

Lee, T. B.

Cataloguing has a future

Spoken word

Audio disc

MetadataDonated by the author

Carrier type:

From flat-file description ...

... to FRBR record

Name:

Biography:

...

Name authority

Term:

Definition:

...

Subject authority

Bibliographic description

Item

Manifestation

Author:

Content type:

Subject:

Spoken word

Expression

Work

Lee, T. B.

Metadata

From FRBR record ...

... to extinction!

Name:

Name authority

Term:

Subject authority

Item

Manifestation

Expression

Work

Provenance: Donated by the author

Subject:

Author:

Title: Cataloguing has a future

Content type: Spoken word

Audio discCarrier type:Term:

RDA content type

Term:

RDA carrier type

Donor:

Title:

Amazon/Publisher

Where is the record?

Implicit, not explicitEverywhere and nowhere

A semantic Web will allow machines to create the record just-in-timeWe will not have to maintain records just-in-case

The user will have control over the presentationI want to see an archive or library or museum or

Amazon or Google or Flickr or ? display

And by avoiding duplication, we can all get on with describing new stuff ...

The hyperdimensional (Tardis) card

Lee, T. B.

Cataloguing has a future. - Audio disc

(Spoken word). - Donated by the author.

1. Metadata

Audio shop

Lee MuseumSpoken word archive

W3C Library

“TARDIS four port USB hub, for office-bound Time Lords:

Open a time vortex on your desk” – Pocket-lint

Linking communities

FRBRooCRM

ISBDFRBR

RDAMARC

RDADC

RDAFRBR

RDAONIXFRBRooFRBR

Everything is connected

FRBRooCRM FRBR

RDAONIX

DC

MARC

ISBD

… at the community (human) and technical (Semantic Web) levels

Thank you

Another identifierg.dunsire@strath.ac.ukowl:sameAs

http://errol.oclc.org/laf/nb2001-72552.html