BIBFRAME is a linked data model, developed by the Library of Congress, for expressing and connecting bibliographic data. It was developed by the Library of Congress to eventually replace the MARC format, and to serve as "the library community’s formal entry point for becoming part of a much larger web of data, where the links between things are paramount."
Building on earlier analysis done by the Linked Data for Libraries (2014-2016) project, LD4P and LD4L-Labs conducted an in-depth evaluation of BIBFRAME 2.0, developing recommendations for implementing and extending BIBFRAME. Many of these recommendations have already been adopted by the Library of Congress and are reflected in BIBFRAME 2.0.
Created by the LD4L Labs and LD4P Ontology Group, bibliotek-o represents an extension as well as deviation from BIBFRAME 2.0 in key modeling areas as discussed in pattern and principle documents.
The LD4L-Labs and LD4P Ontology Group is producing application profiles and MARC mappings to define logic for implementation of the target ontologies for LD4P's use of RDF instance editors as well as MARC2RDF conversion. BIBFRAME 2.0 forms the core ontology for all LD4P projects; however, bibliotek-o is an essential component in a number of these production efforts, along with terms from additional ontologies, defined in the bibliotek-o GitHub repository target ontologies directory.
As work begins on our metadata production projects, we will continue to develop recommendations for best practices in implementing BIBFRAME.
- bibliotek-o OWL representation
- bibliotek-o Github repository
- BIBFRAME 2.0 + bibliotek-o mapping to MARC (in progress)
- Application profile (in progress)
- Sample RDF (in progress)
Modeling Pattern Documents
- Activities
- Content Accessibility
- Content Type, Carrier Type and Media Type
- Identifiers
- Legacy Literals
- Notes and Annotations
- Relations
- Titles
Design Principle Documents
What is bibliotek-o?
bibliotek-o is a framework for modeling bibliographic metadata as linked data, developed by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation funded Linked Data for Libraries Labs and Linked Data for Production projects. The bibliotek-o framework is composed of multiple ontologies, including terms minted in the bibliotek-o namespace, as well as an application profile for the recommended implementation of these ontologies (in progress).
Why develop bibliotek-o?
The bibliotek-o developers believe that the BIBFRAME model can be improved with extended or alternative modeling patterns, and that BIBFRAME would benefit from further community engagement. By publishing bibliotek-o and implementing it in open source tools, we hope to encourage community feedback on BIBFRAME and bibliotek-o.
Is bibliotek-o a competitor to BIBFRAME?
No. In fact, bibliotek-o uses BIBFRAME as its core, and cannot be implemented without BIBFRAME.
In any case, we believe that the library community will always need multiple ontologies to best describe the rich variety of resources in our collections, especially to describe specific content types in greater detail, and that as a community we should focus on activities and tools that encourage interoperability.
Will bibliotek-o and BIBFRAME converge in the future?
The process of developing bibliotek-o has already led to some revisions to BIBFRAME; we hope modeling decisions in bibliotek-o will be considered as future versions of BIBFRAME are developed, ideally leading to the convergence of the two ontologies. Regardless, bibliotek-o is not intended to be a competitor to BIBFRAME; the bibliotek-o developers plan to use this framework as a demonstration of modeling discrete alternatives and plan to align with ontologies the broader community implements for bibliographic description.
How does bibliotek-o differ from BIBFRAME?
bibliotek-o differs from BIBFRAME in several modeling areas: activities; content accessibility; content, carrier, and media types; notes and annotations; relations; titles; and legacy literals. "bibliotek-o : an overview" describes each of these extended and alternative patterns and gives examples, along with pointers to bibliotek-o’s full recommendation for each pattern.
Is mapping between bibliotek-o and BIBFRAME lossy?
The BIBFRAME to bibliotek-o mapping is lossless; however, mapping bibliotek-o to BIBFRAME is lossy.
Can libraries use bibliotek-o now?
Yes. Learn about the model and accompanying framework on the bibliotek-o documentation site and the bibliotek-o GitHub repository. The LD4 group is working to customize various editors to support bibliotek-o, including VitroLib and CEDAR. Further, LD4L Labs is building a MARC to bibliotek-o converter.
How can libraries give feedback on bibliotek-o and BIBFRAME?
To provide feedback on bibliotek-o, please submit GitHub issues on the bibliotek-o GitHub repository.
