SKOSify your library – how to bring your library classification into the linked open data cloud‎

Name of presenter(s): Dierk Eichel
Intended audience: Libraries with little knowledge of semantic web and little technical recourses intended to not get left behind of the rapid technological development and want to connect into the opportunities the ever growing linked open data cloud promises.
Abstract: The transformation from the Web of documents to the Web of data provided the information science community with new challenges (1). A new generation of information scientists, archivists and librarians finish their education and want to work with full zeal to this task. The publication of so-called "linked open data" progresses slowly in libraries(2). There are some  examples of big libraries publishing bibliographic data like the Hungarian National Library (3) or the German National Library (4) with a linked data service of DDC and GND or the ZBW  (5) thesaurus. But that is not enough, the semantic web needs "raw data now"(6), especially from the huge number of small special libraries around the world. And not only the bibliographical metadata (7) but also the authority metadata as well. Just lots of small special and department libraries are using classifications especially created for them. The publication and meaningful linking to other classifications could for the library generate new users and increasing the visibility of their inventory as well as revolutionize the retrieval process. But how can these small libraries publish their unique and valuable data in the huge semantic web?
To answer these questions, I published the classification of the library (8) of the Berlin based Humboldt University institute “Zentrum für transdisziplinäre Geschlechterstudien”. I evaluated the efforts that has to be taken from the library staff to convert the libraries own special classification from a mere word document into SKOS (9) with the help of different software tools like a simple “notepad”, the powerful “Altova semanticworks” and the new cloud service “poolparty”. The linking with existing data in the linked open data cloud (10) was a part of the publishing process. I then deducted the skills and knowledge to be present in the libraries staff to effectively work in the new world of interlinked data.
1 Seiler, “Die Publikation musealer Daten als Linked Data.”
2 Pohl and Ostrowsk, “Zur Konzeption und Implementierung einer Infrastruktur für freie bibliographische
Daten.”
3 “Hungarian National Library published its entire OPAC and Digital Library as Linked Data.”
4 “Dokumentation des Linked Data Services der DNB - linked-data-service - Deutsche Nationalbibliothek -
Wiki.”
5 “Case Study: Publishing STW Thesaurus for Economics as Linked Open Data.”
6 “Tim Berners-Lee on the next Web | Video on TED.com.”
7 Yee, “Can Bibliographic Data be Put Directly onto the Semantic Web?”.
8 “Genderbibliothek — ZtG.”
9 “SKOS Simple Knowledge Organization System - home page.”
10 “linked open data cloud.”
Bibliography:
  • “Dokumentation des Linked Data Services der DNB - linked-data-service - Deutsche Nationalbibliothek - Wiki”, n.d. https://wiki.d-nb.de/display/LDS/Dokumentation+des+Linked+Data+Services+der+DNB.
  • “Genderbibliothek — ZtG”, n.d. http:// www.gender.hu-berlin.de/genderbib.
  • “Hungarian National Library published its entire OPAC and Digital Library as Linked Data”, April 7, 2010. http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-lod/2010Apr/0155.html.
  • “linked open data cloud”, July 2009. http://www4.wiwiss.fu-berlin.de/bizer/pub/lod-datasets_2009-07-14_colored.png.
  • Pohl, Adrian, and Felix Ostrowsk. “Zur Konzeption und Implementierung einer Infrastruktur für freie bibliographische Daten”. Frankfurt: DGI, 2010. http://www.hbz-nrw.de/dokumentencenter/produkte/lod/aktuell/pohl_ostrowski_2010_open-data- infrastruktur.pdf.
  • Seiler, Anette. “Die Publikation musealer Daten als Linked Data”. Masterarbeit, Berlin: Humboldt Universität Berlin, 2009. http://www.intelligent-information.de/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Masterarbeit-Blog.pdf.
  • “SKOS Simple Knowledge Organization System - home page”, n.d. http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/.
  • “Tim Berners-Lee on the next Web | Video on TED.com”, n.d. http://www.ted.com/talks/tim_berners_lee_on_the_next_web.html.
  • Yee, Martha. “Can Bibliographic Data be Put Directly onto the Semantic Web?” Information Technology and Libraries 28, no. 2 (June 2009): 55-80.