Publishing Linked Data on Data.Bibliotheken.nl
Channel: SWIB
Date: 2019-12-02

Talk by René Voorburg 
KB national library of the Netherlands, Netherlands

Abstract: 
In 2018, KB - national library of the Netherlands (KB), published Data.Bibliotheken.nl (DBN), an online linked data publication environment. It was argued that linked data would help the KB to publish not just 'on the web' but also 'in the web', allowing others to reuse and link to KB data. Although a growing interest exists in extending linked data principles to core library registries, for example the catalogue, the practice of publishing linked data at the KB involved following a cascade of export, modelling or remodelling, conversion, selection and transformation steps. Various conversion routes were followed, depending on the data, systems and tools at hand.
Presented will be the steps that were applied, leading to the RDF published at DBN. Besides these technical steps, perhaps most crucial in creating linked data is the semantic modelling or the design principles to be adhered to. It is crucial since the model applied may greatly impact the usability of the output. Moreover, it complex since it requires people with differing backgrounds to collaborate, to understand and acknowledge each others expertise and perspectives and to arrive at a common language and model.
This complex step hasn't reached it conclusion yet. The design principles behind the data now at DBN may be summarized as generally established best practices plus a schema.org serialization. To further enhance and extend the published data, a more elaborate set of principles is required. Those principles will not to be applied to data at DBN only. As a 'generic KB entity model for content' it is thought of as the unifying metadatamodel for KB content related metadata. This work-in-progress model, based on IFLA-LRM and PREMIS, will be presented.
Regardless whether DBN has fulfilled its goals or not, it appears that embarking on the linked data trail has resulted in beneficial spin off.

SWIB19 Conference, 25-27 November 2019, Hamburg, Germany
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Licence: CC-BY-SA
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