Reflections on the PCC Wikidata Pilot at UCLA Library: Undertaking the PCC Learning Objectives

AbstractIn 2020, the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) Task Group on Identity Management in NACO sponsored a 14-month PCC Wikidata Pilot, complete with learning objectives, for participants to experiment with Wikidata, an open linked data platform. UCLA Library joined the Pilot to create and edit Wikidata items related to UCLA Library’s collections and UCLA Library entities. With the Pilot’s conclusion, the UCLA Library Pilot team reflected on lessons learned. By assessing UCLA Library’s experience against the Pilot’s learning objectives, the authors hope to contribute on-the-ground insights that may be relevant to PCC’s progress toward identity management, and the role Wikidata may play in this transition.Keywords: Wikidataidentity managementlinked dataProgram for Cooperative Catalogingmetadata AcknowledgementsThis article reflects the work of the PCC Wikidata Pilot UCLA team, all of whom contributed incredible time, effort, and enthusiasm for Wikidata work under the leadership of the Pilot team coordinator, Paromita Biswas. The authors would like to thank UCLA Library’s Head of Resource Acquisitions and Metadata Services, John Riemer, for his support of UCLA’s participation in the PCC Wikidata Pilot. The authors would also like to thank contributors to an internal Wikidata report that informed much of this article: Joseph Andrews, Paromita Biswas, Iman Dagher, Peter Fletcher, Martha Steele, and Erica Zhang. Special acknowledgements to Peter Fletcher for his contributions in crafting this article.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 Program for Cooperative Cataloging, “PCC (Program for Cooperative Cataloging) Strategic Directions January 2018-December 2021 (Extended to December 2022),” accessed September 27, 2023, https://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/about/PCC-Strategic-Directions-2018-2022.pdf.2 PCC Identity Management, “Wikidata Pilot,” LYRASIS Wiki, accessed September 19, 2023, https://wiki.lyrasis.org/display/pccidmgt/Wikidata + Pilot.3 Throughout the article, the phrase “Pilot participants” generally refers to participating institutions of the PCC Wikidata Pilot, and the phrase “Pilot team members” generally refers to UCLA Library participants specifically.4 Program for Cooperative Cataloging, “Vision, Mission, and Strategic Directions (January 2015-December 2017),” accessed September 27, 2023, https://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/about/PCC-Strategic-Plan-2015-2017.pdf.5 Program for Cooperative Cataloging, “PCC (Program for Cooperative Cataloging) Strategic Directions January 2018-December 2021 (Extended to December 2022).”6 Participants in the PCC’s NACO program contribute authority records for names, uniform titles, and series to the Library of Congress/NACO Authority File. Library of Congress-Program for Cooperative Cataloging, “About NACO,” accessed May 22, 2023, https://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/naco/about.html.7 Program for Cooperative Cataloging, “PCC ISNI Pilot Home,” LYRASIS Wiki, accessed September 19, 2023, https://wiki.lyrasis.org/display/PCCISNI.8 PCC Identity Management, “URIs in MARC Pilot,” LYRASIS Wiki, accessed September 19, 2023, https://wiki.lyrasis.org/display/pccidmgt/Wikidata + Pilot.9 MARC or Machine-Readable Cataloging, is a technical standard for the representation of bibliographic and related data; it is developed and maintained by the Library of Congress in consultation with various user communities. See MARBI, “The MARC 21 Formats: Background and Principles”, Library of Congress, accessed May 25, 2023, https://www.loc.gov/marc/96principl.html.10 PCC Task Group on Identity Management in NACO, “PCC Identity Management Home,” PCC Identity Management - LYRASIS Wiki, accessed March 29, 2023, https://wiki.lyrasis.org/display/pccidmgt/PCC + Identity + Management + Home.11 See, SD2, Section 2.2, Program for Cooperative Cataloging, “PCC Strategic Directions.”12 Wikidata, “Main Page,” accessed September 27, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Main_Page.13 Program for Cooperative Cataloging, “Wikidata:Wikiproject PCC Wikidata Pilot,” accessed March 29, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_PCC_Wikidata_Pilot. The NACO-Lite approach prioritizes the creation of identifiers over the construction of text strings, thereby freeing up resources needed to train catalogers to construct unique headings. See John J. Riemer, “Unpacking the Meaning of ‘NACO Lite,’” Technicalities 38, no. 3 (2018), https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3ss1t4xx.14 John Riemer and Michelle Durocher, “The Program for Cooperative Cataloging Wikidata Pilot.” Webinar from LD4 Wikidata Affinity Group, virtual, June 16, 2020. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z1SSAp4c4tftOGW3BbJ6Fxfd8oRIhfzveh0zjebDhkk/edit?usp = sharing.15 PCC Task Group on Identity Management in NACO, “Wikidata Pilot Meeting Notes, Slides & Recordings,” PCC Identity Management - LYRASIS Wiki, accessed March 29, 2023, https://wiki.lyrasis.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=187174065.16 Program for Cooperative Cataloging, “PCC Joint Operations Committee Meeting (OpCo), 2022 - Library of Congress,” accessed March 29, 2023, https://loc.gov/aba/pcc/documents/OpCo-2022/Agenda-OpCo-2022.pdf.17 Participating in the PCC’s Subject Authority Cooperative Program allows member institutions to submit proposals and changes to the Library of Congress’s various subject and genre/form vocabularies as well as classification schedules. Library of Congress. Program for Cooperative Cataloging, “SACO - Subject Authority Cooperative Program,” accessed May 22, 2023, https://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/saco/index.html.18 Gary Strawn, “Authority toolkit: create and modify authority records,” accessed May 22, 2023, https://files.library.northwestern.edu/public/oclc/documentation/.19 University of California, Los Angeles, “Wikiproject PCC Wikidata Pilot/UCLA,” Wikidata, accessed March 29, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_PCC_Wikidata_Pilot/UCLA.20 The annual LD4 Conference has a separate track dedicated to Wikidata. See conference schedules available at, “Conferences,” LD4 Community Site, accessed March 29, 2023, https://sites.google.com/stanford.edu/ld4-community-site/conferences.21 University of Washington Libraries, “Wikiproject PCC Wikidata Pilot/University of Washington,” Wikidata, accessed March 29, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_PCC_Wikidata_Pilot/University_of_Washington.22 See Aim and Scope of these libraries’ respective Wikidata Pilot projects: Texas State University Libraries, “Wikiproject PCC Wikidata Pilot/Texas State University Libraries,” Wikidata, accessed March 29, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_PCC_Wikidata_Pilot/Texas_State_University_Libraries; San Diego State University, “Wikiproject PCC Wikidata Pilot/San Diego State University,” Wikidata, accessed March 29, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_PCC_Wikidata_Pilot/San_Diego_State_University; Brandeis University, “Wikiproject PCC Wikidata Pilot/Brandeis University,” Wikidata, accessed March 29, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_PCC_Wikidata_Pilot/BrandeisUniversity.23 Library of Congress, “Wikiproject PCC Wikidata Pilot/LC-BIBFRAME-Wikidata-Project,” Wikidata, accessed March 29, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_PCC_Wikidata_Pilot/LC-BIBFRAME-Wikidata-Project; University of Utah, Marriott Library, “Wikiproject PCC Wikidata Pilot/University of Utah,” Wikidata, accessed March 29, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_PCC_Wikidata_Pilot/University_of_Utah; Harry Ransom Center, “Wikiproject PCC Wikidata Pilot/Harry Ransom Center,” Wikidata, accessed March 29, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_PCC_Wikidata_Pilot/Harry_Ransom_Center; Casalini Libri, “Wikiproject PCC Wikidata Pilot/Casalini Libri. SVDE-Wikidata Interaction,” Wikidata, accessed March 29, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_PCC_Wikidata_Pilot/Casalini_Libri._SVDE-Wikidata_Interaction.24 Illinois State University, “Wikiproject PCC Wikidata Pilot/Illinois State University,” Wikidata, accessed March 29, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_PCC_Wikidata_Pilot/Illinois_State_University.25 IUPUI, “Wikiproject IUPUI University Library,” Wikidata, accessed March 29, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_IUPUI_University_Library.26 University of Delaware, “Wikiproject PCC Wikidata Pilot/Participants/University of Delaware,” Wikidata, accessed March 29, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_PCC_Wikidata_Pilot/Participants/University_of_Delaware.27 Philadelphia Museum of Art, “Wikiproject PCC Wikidata Pilot/Philadelphia Museum of Art Library and Archives,” Wikidata, accessed March 29, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_PCC_Wikidata_Pilot/Philadelphia_Museum_of_Art_Library_and_Archives.28 PCC Task Group, “Wikidata Pilot Meeting Notes.”29 For a breakdown of survey results, see PCC Task Group on Identity Management in NACO, “Identity Management Advisory Committee & Wikidata Projects,” PCC Operations Committee Meeting, May 6, 2022, https://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/documents/OpCo-2022/Wikidata.pdf.30 The PCC provides specialized training, often in conjunction with the Library of Congress, for its member institutions participating in its programs such as NACO and SACO. See Program for Cooperative Cataloging/Library of Congress, “About the PCC,” accessed March 30, 2023, https://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/about.31 While items in Wikidata can be anything within the scope of human knowledge, from concepts to events to well-known figures, Wikidata items need to be “notable,” determined through having a corresponding page on a Wikimedia site, being a clearly identifiable material or conceptual entity, or fulfilling a structural need within Wikidata’s knowledge graph. Wikidata’s guidance for creating and editing items are available through its various Help Pages. See “Help:Items,” Wikidata, accessed March 30, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Help:Items.32 In Wikidata’s data model, a statement is composed of an item and a property-value pair; for example, the item for “Earth (Q2)” can have a statement with the property “highest point” (P610) having the value “Mount Everest” (Q513). See “Help:About Data,” Wikidata, accessed October 2, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Help:About_data.33 Wikidata’s guidance for creating and editing Items are available through its various Help Pages. See “Help:Items,” Wikidata, accessed March 30, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Help:Items.34 The 670 field in a MARC name authority record is used to justify the authorized access point and cross references present in the record. It may also contain additional information necessary to identify the entity covered by the record and its relationships to other entities in the authority file. Program for Cooperative Cataloging, NACO Participants’ Manual, 2020, https://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/naco/documents/NACOParticipantsManual.pdf, 70.35 Property constraints are rules that guide how properties should be used in Wikidata. Certain properties, such as “date of birth (P569),” have a “citation needed constraint (Q54554025)” specifying that statements with this property should have at least one reference. “Help:Property Constraints Portal/Citation Needed,” Wikidata, accessed May 23, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Help:Property_constraints_portal/Citation_needed.36 For example, Mr. Ibrahembot, operated by a Wikidata user, adds descriptions in languages such as Arabic to items that may not even have labels. See revision history of Wikidata item Q12217557 showing that this bot added descriptions in eight languages. “Revision History of (Q12217557),” Wikidata, accessed May 23, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?title = Q12217557&action = history. See also the bot’s page in Wikidata, “User:Mr.Ibrahembot,” Wikidata, accessed May 23, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/User:Mr.Ibrahembot.37 “Wikidata-l,” Wikidata-l, April 22, 2015, https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikidata@lists.wikimedia.org/thread/WHR5ZYTUCNNZB6UOUH44P2MR4HWTCLKG/.38 Anchalee Panigabutra-Roberts, Steve Baskauf, and Iman Dagher, “Working with VanderBot to Add Multilingual Content (in English and Arabic) to Wikidata,” in UT Libraries Faculty: Other Publications and Presentations, 2022, https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_libfac/12.39 See, for example, the 6XX Notes fields in MARC authority records that contain a variety of unstructured information from biographical notes to general notes for the public. Library of Congress, “667-68X - Notes-General Information,” MARC 21 Format for Authority Data: 667-68X, accessed September 20, 2023, https://www.loc.gov/marc/authority/ad66768x.html.40 “Help:Sources,” Wikidata, accessed September 21, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Help:Sources.41 University of Washington Libraries, “Wikidata:WikiProject PCC Wikidata Pilot/University of Washington/Application Profiles/Faculty and Staff,” Wikidata, accessed March 29, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_PCC_Wikidata_Pilot/University_of_Washington/Application_Profiles/Faculty_and_Staff.42 Piscopo and Simperl discuss how Wikidata does not have a predefined formal ontology and that its ontology may change quickly, a result of the collaborative editing and maintenance of its knowledge graph by its community of editors, both humans and bots. Alessandro Piscopo and Elena Simperl, “Who Models the World? Collaborative Ontology Creation and User Roles in Wikidata,” Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction 2, no. CSCW (2018), https://doi.org/10.1145/3274410.43 See for examples items created for UCLA faculty members as part of the UCLA Library Wikidata project and outside of the project: “Janice L Reiff,” Wikidata, accessed March 30, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q102252631; “Aditi Lahiri,” Wikidata, accessed March 30, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q357592.44 See “Instance Of,” Wikidata, accessed March 30, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P31; “Subclass Of,” Wikidata, accessed March 30, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P279.45 As noted by Piscopo and Simperl, Wikidata’s collaborative and loosely designed ontology “means, among others, that Wikidata does not formally distinguish between items that are classes, and items that are entities. One study used properties P31 (instance of) and P279 (subclass of) to explore common issues in the Wikidata taxonomy, attributable principally to the misuse of these two Properties.” Piscopo and Simperl, “Who models the world,” 4. For example, see the item for “Assuria Hermitage High-Rise (Q113996227),” Wikidata, accessed March 30, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q113996227. This item describes the Hermitage as a building type (using “subclass of (P279)”) instead of an instance of a building, although the item also uses the property “instance of (P31)” indicating the item is an instance of a residential tower, which is itself a subclass of residential buildings.46 “Help:Property Constraints Portal,” Wikidata, accessed March 30, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Help:Property_constraints_portal.47 See items: “The New York Times,” Wikidata, accessed March 30, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9684; “The Black Law Journal,” Wikidata, accessed March 30, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q100319362; “National Black Law Journal,” Wikidata, accessed March 30, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15756635.48 Per the LC Subject Headings Manual instruction sheet H 1334, "Generally, when a building is known by the same name as the corporate body that occupies it, a corporate name heading is established for the body and that name heading is used as a subject heading for works about either the organization or the building." Library of Congress, “Buildings and Other Structures - H 1334,” in Subject Headings Manual, accessed March 30, 2023, https://www.loc.gov/aba/publications/FreeSHM/H1334.pdf.49 “Help:Merge,” Wikidata, accessed May 23, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Help:Merge.50 “Help:Requests for Deletions,” Wikidata, accessed March 30, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?title = Help%3ARequests_for_deletions%2Fen&oldid=1492187993.51 “Help:Merge,” Wikidata, accessed March 30, 2023.52 “Help:QuickStatements,” Wikidata, accessed March 30, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Help:QuickStatements.53 “Tools/OpenRefine/Editing/Tutorials/Basic Editing,” Wikidata, accessed March 30, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Tools/OpenRefine/Editing/Tutorials/Basic_editing.54 Cliff Landis, Christine Wiseman, Allyson F. Smith, and Matthew Stephens, “Ganch: Using Linked Open Data for Georgia's Natural, Cultural and Historic Organizations’ Disaster Response,” The Code4Lib Journal, February 10, 2021, https://journal.code4lib.org/articles/15576.55 “About Worldcat Updates,” OCLC , accessed May 23, 2023, https://help.oclc.org/Metadata_Services/WorldShare_Collection_Manager/WorldCat_updates/About_WorldCat_updates_through_Collection_Manager/About_WorldCat_updates.56 PCC Task Group, “Wikidata Pilot Meeting Notes.”57 See for example, the presentation on June 9, 2021, by Lydia Pintscher and Amrutha Chandra on data quality in Wikidata available on the PCC Identity Management Wikidata Pilot site. PCC Identity Management, “Wikidata Pilot Meeting Notes.”58 Subject type constraint specifies the item described by a property should be a subclass or instance of a given type. “Subject Type Constraint,” Wikidata, accessed May 23, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21503250.59 For a list of presentations on Wikidata at the LD4 2020 Conference, see “Wikidata - 2020 LD4 Conference on Linked Data in Libraries Schedule,” accessed March 30, 2023, https://ld42020.sched.com/overview/type/Wikidata.60 “Community Portal,” Wikidata, accessed March 30, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Main_Page.61 “Living People,” Wikidata, accessed September 21, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Living_people; “Licensing,” Wikidata, accessed September 21, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Licensing.62 Wiki Education, “Wikidata Professional Development Training Modules,” Wikidata Professional Development Training Modules - Wiki Education Dashboard, accessed March 30, 2023, https://dashboard.wikiedu.org/training/wikidata-professional.63 “Wikiproject Linked Data for Production/Practical Wikidata for Librarians,” Wikidata, accessed May 23, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_Linked_Data_for_Production/Practical_Wikidata_for_Librarians.64 PCC Standing Committee on Applications, Wikidata and MARC21 authority mappings, accessed May 23, 2023, https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1d4w10m6ChNshX8fiaqackiLlQvNt0K2fSlkY9XuKgb0/edit#gid=1077502018.65 Hilary Thorsen, “Wikidata: Gadgets & User Scripts,” LD4 Wikidata Affinity Group Calls, July 16, 2021, https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1u2Jx5LbaTX6Q3_e9UBy6XAdkAGzKRZG2/edit#slide = id.p1.66 “Help:QuickStatements,” Wikidata, accessed May 23, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Help:QuickStatements; “Tools/OpenRefine/Editing/Tutorials/Basic Editing,” Wikidata, accessed May 23, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Tools/OpenRefine/Editing/Tutorials/Basic_editing.67 University of Nevada, Las Vegas, “Wikiproject PCC Wikidata Pilot/UNLV,” Wikidata, accessed May 23, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_PCC_Wikidata_Pilot/UNLV#SPARQL_Queries.68 Robert Fernandez, “Listeria,” LD4 Wikidata Affinity Group Calls, September 8, 2020, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Listeria_presentation_LD4_Wikidata_Affinity_Group_2020.pdf.69 Fondren Library, Rice University, “Wikiproject PCC Wikidata Pilot/Fondren Library, Rice University,” Wikidata, accessed March 30, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_PCC_Wikidata_Pilot/Fondren_Library,_Rice_University.70 National Gallery of Art Library, “Wikiproject PCC Wikidata Pilot/National Gallery of Art Library,” Wikidata, accessed May 23, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_PCC_Wikidata_Pilot/National_Gallery_of_Art_Library.; New York University Libraries, “Wikiproject NYU Libraries,” Wikidata, accessed May 23, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_NYU_Libraries.71 “Wikidata Pilot Meeting Notes, Slides & Recordings - PCC Identity Management - LYRASIS Wiki.” Accessed July 7, 2023. https://wiki.lyrasis.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=187174065.72 See for example, the motivation discussion, “Property Proposal/UCLA Library Space Inventory LocID,” Wikidata, accessed March 30, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Property_proposal/UCLA Library Space_Inventory_LocID.73 PCC SCA, “Wikidata and MARC 21 Mappings.”74 “Has issuing agent,” RDA Registry, accessed May 25, 2023, http://www.rdaregistry.info/Elements/w/#P10046.75 Per Wikidata’s notability policy, an item can be included in Wikidata if it has a sitelink to another Wikimedia page, is mentioned in serious and publicly available references, or fulfills a structural need in Wikidata’s database of items. “Notability,” Wikidata, accessed May 24, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Notability.76 See for example the Wikidata item for The New York Times: “The New York Times,” Wikidata, accessed May 23, 2023, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9684.77 See for example the overview of library catalogs as they have changed over time in David Wells, “Online Public Access Catalogues and Library Discovery Systems,” Knowledge Organization 48, no. 6 (2021): 457–66, https://doi.org/10.5771/0943-7444-2021-6-457.78 Bahnemann, Greta, Michael Carroll, Paul Clough, Mario Einaudi, Chatham Ewing, Jeff Mixter, Jason Roy, Holly Tomren, Bruce Washburn, and Elliot Williams. 2021. Transforming Metadata into Linked Data to Improve Digital Collection Discoverability: A CONTENTdm Pilot Project. Dublin, OH: OCLC Research. https://doi.org/10.25333/fzcv-0851.79 Program for Cooperative Cataloging, SHARE-VDE PCC Data Pool Evaluation Task Group, accessed October 2, 2023, https://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/taskgroup/SVDE-PCC-Data-Pool-Evaluation-TG-charge.pdf.80 Share-VDE: Linked data for libraries, accessed October 2, 2023, https://wiki.share-vde.org/wiki/Main_Page.81 Isabel Quintana, “FW: draft email to PCC list re: endorsement of LD4 Wikidata Affinity Group,” PCC Listserv Archives, accessed May 25, 2023, https://listserv.loc.gov/cgi-bin/wa?A2 = ind2205&L = PCCLIST&P = 55858.82 “Wikidata Religion & Theology Community of Practice Conversation Group,” Atla, accessed May 23, 2023, https://www.atla.com/webinar/wikidata-religion-theology-community-of-practice-conversation-group/.