linked data – commonplace.net

Infrastructure for heritage institutions – Open and Linked Data

June 1, 2021June 1, 2021 Lukas KosterData, Infrastructure, Library

In my June 2020 post in this series, “Infrastructure for heritage institutions – change of course ” , I said: “The results of both Data Licences and the Data Quality projects (Object PID’s, Controlled Vocabularies, Metadata Set) will go into the new Data Publication project, which will be undertaken in the second half of 2020. This project is aimed at publishing our collection data as open and linked data in various formats via various channels. A […]

Ten years linked open data

June 4, 2016February 13, 2020 Lukas KosterData, Library

This post is the English translation of my original article in Dutch, published in META (2016-3), the Flemish journal for information professionals. Ten years after the term “linked data” was introduced by Tim Berners-Lee it appears to be time to take stock of the impact of linked data for libraries and other heritage institutions in the past and in the future. I will do this from a personal historical perspective, as a library technology professional, […]

Maps, dictionaries and guidebooks

August 3, 2015February 3, 2020 Lukas KosterData

Interoperability in heterogeneous library data landscapes Libraries have to deal with a highly opaque landscape of heterogeneous data sources, data types, data formats, data flows, data transformations and data redundancies, which I have earlier characterized as a “data maze”. The level and magnitude of this opacity and heterogeneity varies with the amount of content types and the number of services that the library is responsible for. Academic and national libraries are possibly dealing with more […]

Standard deviations in data modeling, mapping and manipulation

June 16, 2015February 3, 2020 Lukas KosterData

Or: Anything goes. What are we thinking? An impression of ELAG 2015 This year’s ELAG conference in Stockholm was one of many questions. Not only the usual questions following each presentation (always elicited in the form of yet another question: “Any questions?”). But also philosophical ones (Why? What?). And practical ones (What time? Where? How? How much?). And there were some answers too, fortunately. This is my rather personal impression of the event. For a […]

Analysing library data flows for efficient innovation

November 27, 2014February 14, 2020 Lukas KosterLibrary

In my work at the Library of the University of Amsterdam I am currently taking a step forward by actually taking a step back from a number of forefront activities in discovery, linked open data and integrated research information towards a more hidden, but also more fundamental enterprise in the area of data infrastructure and information architecture. All for a good cause, for in the end a good data infrastructure is essential for delivering high […]

Library Linked Data Happening

August 26, 2014January 12, 2020 Lukas KosterLibrary

On August 14 the IFLA 2014 Satellite Meeting ‘Linked Data in Libraries: Let’s make it happen!’ took place at the National Library of France in Paris. Rurik Greenall (who also wrote a very readable conference report) and I had the opportunity to present our paper ‘An unbroken chain: approaches to implementing Linked Open Data in libraries; comparing local, open-source, collaborative and commercial systems’. In this paper we do not go into reasons for libraries to […]

Roadmaps, roadblocks and data finding users

June 19, 2014January 12, 2020 Lukas KosterLibrary

Lingering gold at ELAG 2014 Libraries tend to see themselves as intermediaries between information and the public, between creators and consumers of information. Looking back at the ELAG 2014 conference at the University of Bath however, I can’t get the image out of my head of libraries standing in the way between information and consumers. We’ve been talking about “inside out libraries”, “libraries everywhere”, “rethinking the library” and similar soundbites for some years now, but it […]

Linked data or die!

December 1, 2013January 12, 2020 Lukas KosterLibrary

Struggling towards usable linked data services at SWIB13 Paraphrasing some of the challenges proposed by keynote speaker Dorothea Salo, the unofficial theme of the SWIB13 conference in Hamburg might be described as “No more ontologies, we want out of the box linked data tools!”. This sounds like we are dealing with some serious confrontations in the linked open data world. Judging by Martin Malmsten’s LIBRIS battle cry “Linked data or die!” you might even think […]

The poor person’s linked open data workbench

November 11, 2013February 3, 2020 Lukas KosterData

Using discovery tools for presenting integrated information There has been a lot of discussion in recent years about library discovery tools. Basically, a library discovery tool provides a centrally maintained shared scholarly material metadata index, a system for searching and an option for adding a local metadata index. Academic libraries use it for providing a unified access platform to subscribed and open access databases and ejournals as well as their own local print and digital […]

(Discover AND deliver) OR else

January 7, 2013February 14, 2020 Lukas KosterData

The future of the academic library as a data services hub Is there a future for libraries, or more specifically: is there a future for academic libraries? This has been the topic of lots of articles, blog posts, books and conferences. See for instance Aaron Tay’s recent post about his favourite “future of libraries” articles. But the question needs to be addressed over and over again, because libraries, and particularly academic libraries, continue to persevere […]