Program Announcement: LITA/ALCTS Linked Library Data Interest Group Meeting @ ALA Annual
Time: Saturday, June 23, 2018, 9:00-10:00 AM
Location: Ernest N. Morial Convention Center Convention Center, Rm 265-268                 

Please join us for three exciting presentations describing linked data projects. After our speaker presentations, the group will have an opportunity for questions and discussion.

Evidence-Building using Linked Administrative Data at the Census Bureau
Kate McNamara, Census Bureau

The Census Bureau is expanding its Data Linkage Infrastructure to improve access for evaluators, program and policy analysts, and researchers. The new data linkage initiative improves access to these data, increases the discoverability of data with inventories and metadata, and leverages new technology. We are currently conducting a variety of research projects leveraging administrative records linked to demographic and economic survey data. Census has also played a role in collaborative efforts to create best practices for data sharing and access, including the Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking and the Administrative Data Research Facilities Network.  Audience members will come away with an understanding of data linkage at Census and learn how librarians can play a role in the evolving landscape of administrative data.

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Who Will be Our bf: Comparing techniques for conversion from MARC to BIBFRAME
Sharon Farnel, Abigail Sparling, Ian Bigelow, and Danoosh Davood
University of Alberta Libraries

The University of Alberta Libraries is actively ramping up for linked data implementation through local experimentation, research and external partnerships. Though BIBFRAME is still in development, several transformation tools have already been created, and with many libraries planning for a future move to linked data it would seem timely to compare approaches to moving legacy MARC data to BIBFRAME. Setting aside the question of whether BIBFRAME should be the vehicle for libraries to move to linked data, this investigation is aimed at comparing two approaches to converting MARC to bf:2.0: LC MARC to BIBFRAME XSLT: An XSLT 1.0 application aimed at converting MARC to RDF/XML released in March 2017 and Casalini SHARE Virtual Discovery Environment: A project by Casalini Libri and @Cult to develop a linked data discovery environment, including a conversion tool for MARC to bf:2.0 RDF.

Through the comparison and analysis of these two transformation approaches several topics will be explored: Comparison of data mapping through conversion, Implications for conversions for monograph and serial formats, Approaches to reconciliation through both processes, and In house and vendor workflow implications.

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Demonstrating the Production Value of Linked Data Services
John Chapman, OCLC
Xiaoli Li, University of California Davis

Cornell University, University of California, Davis, and the Montana State Library have partnered with OCLC in a joint research project prototyping a new suite of linked data services. This unique project uses the out-of-the-box services from Wikibase and a high-quality set of entities from multiple linked data sources. The prototype comprises services for 1) reconciling strings representing people, organizations, concepts, places, and events against an index based on entities, providing persistent identifiers; and 2) creating, editing, and sharing entity descriptions, while also allowing for the contribution of additional contextual relationships between entities, beyond those that can be found by mining structured data in bibliographic and authority data.

In this presentation, Xiaoli Li, Department Head - Content Support Services, from the University of California, Davis and John Chapman, Senior Product Manager - Metadata Services, from OCLC will give an update on project progress, demonstrate the interfaces and underlying data, and cover technical challenges and achievements. As the project has focused on meeting real library use cases, the speakers will also discuss insights into the efficacy and efficiency of introducing linked data tools in metadata management workflows.