metadata – 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 […]

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 […]

Looking for data tricks in Libraryland

September 5, 2014January 12, 2020 Lukas KosterLibrary

IFLA 2014 Annual World Library and Information Congress Lyon – Libraries, Citizens, Societies: Confluence for Knowledge After attending the IFLA 2014 Library Linked Data Satellite Meeting in Paris I travelled to Lyon for the first three days (August 17-19) of the IFLA 2014 Annual World Library and Information Congress. This year’s theme “Libraries, Citizens, Societies: Confluence for Knowledge” was named after the confluence or convergence of the rivers Rhône and Saône where the city of […]

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 […]

A day between the stacks

August 9, 2013January 12, 2020 Lukas KosterGeneral

Connecting real books, metadata and people I spent one day in the stacks of the off-site central storage facility of the Library of the University of Amsterdam as one of the volunteers helping the library perform a huge stock control operation which will take years. Goal of this project is to get a complete overview of the discrepancy between what’s on the shelves and what is in the catalogue. We’re talking about 65 kilometer of […]

(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 […]

Local library data in the new global framework

January 5, 2012February 14, 2020 Lukas KosterLibrary

2011 has in a sense been the year of library linked data. Not that libraries of all kinds are now publishing and consuming linked data in great numbers. No. But we have witnessed the publication of the final report of the W3C Library Linked Data Incubator Group, the Library of Congress announcement of the new Bibliographic Framework for the Digital Age based on Linked Data and RDF, the release by a number of large libraries […]

FRBR outside the box

September 2, 2011February 14, 2020 Lukas KosterLibrary

Shifting focus from information carriers back to information This blog post is based on a presentation I did at Datasalon 6 in Brussels, January 21, 2011. Library catalogues have traditionally been used to describe and register books and journals and other physical objects that together constitute the holdings of a library. In an integrated library system (ILS), the public catalogue is combined with acquisition and circulation modules to administer the purchases of book copies […]

Missing links

March 28, 2011January 12, 2020 Lukas KosterLibrary

The challenges of generating linked data from legacy databases Some time ago I wrote a blog post about the linked data proof of concept project I am involved in, connecting bibliographic metadata from the OPAC of the Library of the University of Amsterdam with the theatre performances database maintained by the Theatre Institute of The Netherlands.I ended that post with a list of next steps to take: select/adapt/create a vocabulary for the Production/Performance subject […]