For the time-challanged, here are a few of my notes taken from the recently published drafts on Library Linked Data (LLD) from the W3C. Stuff well-worth reading:

  * DraftReportWithTransclusion - Makes the case for Linked Data in
    libraries. Distinguished between metadata elements, value
    vocabularies, and data sets. Advocated the Semantic Web as a way
    for people to "follow their nose", or, in other words, facilitate
    browse. A cool quote included, "In a sea of RDF triples, no
    developer is an island", and echoed "The best thing to do with
    your data will be thought of by somebody else." Was aptly
    critical of the professions slowness to change, lack of the
    necessary resources, and top-down approach to standards creation.
    Contrasted library metadata as record-based and Web metadata as
    graph based. [1]
  
  * LLD Vocabularies and Datasets - Enumerated various
    library-related metadata element sets, value vocabularies, and
    datasets. In combination, these thing support the creation,
    maintenance, ad use of Library Linked Data (LLD). I was
    pleasantly surprised at the number of items in each enumeration.
    The next step is to put them into practice to a greater degree.
    [2]
  
  * UseCaseReport - Outlined a number of use cased for Library
    Linked Data, including: bibliographic, authority, vocabulary
    alignment, archives, citations, digital objects, collections, and
    social networks. The list of possible use cases was quite long
    demonstrating the great potential usefulness of LLD. [3]

[1] draft report - http://bit.ly/jtPrL0
[2] vocabularies - http://bit.ly/ksioyK
[3] use cases - http://bit.ly/m7Lf0A

-- 
Eric Lease Morgan