Načela strukturnoga modeliranja bibliografskih podataka za bosanskohercegovačke vakufname
Authors:   , Khattab Džejla 
Published: October 2022

The Gazi Husrev-beg Library in Sarajevo holds about 1600 vakufnamas (endowments, endowment charters) from various parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which date from 16th to 18th century, that are documents concerning the foundation and purpose of endowments, and which, therefore, represent primary sources for studying the history of the origin of individual localities and a large number of immovable cultural objects. As a result of heterogeneus collection management practices in libraries and other related communities, as well as due to the specifics of the processing of certain types of materials, insufficient cooperation between communities dealing with the organization of bibliographic objects represented by bibliographic records is evident. In order to exploit the knowledge contained in vakufnamas and promote them on the global network, it is necessary to modify the representation of that knowledge in a semantically understandable way. In this doctoral thesis, within the smart data presentation framework, which is becoming the paradigm of the future way of shaping the Web into the Semantic Web and with the aim to improve the organization and presentation of information on endowments in library catalogs and bibliographic information systems, the possibility of establishing underlying principles of structural modeling of bibliographic data for Bosnian and Herzegovinian vakufnamas was investigated. Accordingly, it is proposed to evaluate two different methodologies of conceptualisation of the bibliographic universe for cultural information management, entity-relationship methodologie (FRBR - LRM) and the interpretation of the FR family of models using object-oriented methodologie (FRBRoo). For this purpose, it was necessary to determine which properties of the endowments are important for the bibliographic organization, from the perspective of primary users of these documents, therefore different data collection tehniques were used - questionnaire, conceptual mapping and card sorting techniques, which were supplemented by semi-structured interviews. This doctoral thesis is a contribution to the development and implementation of a framework for structural modeling of bibliographic data and their integration into the Semantic Web, as participation in the Semantic Web becomes part of the responsibility for library communities. Establishing a relationship between IFLA's conceptual models and their implementation will contribute to the efforts of preservation and dissemination of information contained in endowments. The doctoral thesis on 217 numbered pages contains the text in 8 chapters, which are preceded by the Introduction. The chapters are titled as follows: Explanation, Research Methodology, Definition, Characteristics and Significance of Vakufnamas in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Organization of Bibliographic Information in the Semantic Web, Conceptual models of the Bibliographic Universe, Research on the Bibliographic Structure for Bosnian and Herzegovinian Vakufnamas, Structural Modeling of Bibliographic Data for Bosnian and Herzegovinian Vakufnamas and Concluding Considerations, followed by a list of literature, appendices, list of tables, list of pictures, biography and list of publicly published works of the author. The thesis contains 28 figures and 4 tables, as well as a list of cited literature. The Introduction summarizes the changes that the process of bibliographic organization of information goes through in the sense of a new conceptual view of the universe of recorded knowledge, alongside which the development of semantic web standards runs parallel, emphasizing the relevance of these standards for bibliographic data. In the first chapter entitled Explanation, a new conceptual view of the bibliographic universe presented in IFLA's FR - family of models is presented, after which the shortcomings of the traditional approach are pointed out, emphasizing the state of practice of manuscript materials. After that, the fundamental characteristics of endowments are presented, where the features that are interesting from the aspect of bibliographic organization are emphasized. The second chapter is titled Research Methodology and provides a description of the theoretical framework, goals and research questions, followed by a description of the plan, phases, methods, materials and subjects of the research. In addition to the above, the chapter provides an overview of earlier research. The third chapter, entitled Definition, Characteristics and Significance of Vakufnamas in Bosnia and Herzegovina, considers vakufnamas (endowment charters) from the aspect of social significance for Bosnia and Herzegovina, points to the current cataloging practice related to these archival documents kept in the Gazi Husrev-bey library in Sarajevo. After that, an overview of the practice of cataloging manuscript material in libraries is given, in a concise form, with a special emphasis on the problems of access to primary sources for research, including the ways of access to endowments. The fourth chapter, entitled Organization of Bibliographic Information in the Semantic Web, first states the characteristics of the semantic web and the differences in the infrastructure and approach to data analysis compared to the traditional web and relational databases, including the definition and properties of linked data. After that, the transition process of IFLA's standards into the environment of linked data is presented, where the position of ISBD and UNIMARC within the contemporary global bibliographic ecosystem is particularly indicated. The chapter then provides an overview of the new cataloging codes aligned with conceptual models and the characteristics of authority control within the new bibliographic environment. The fifth chapter is entitled Conceptual Models of the Bibliographic Universe and presents an overview of the evolution of the concept of universal bibliographic control until the publication of the consolidated and unified IFLA LRM model, within the framework of the existing metadata standards of the LAM community and their principles. In this chapter, an exhaustive presentation of the IFLA LRM model, as a model of entities and relations, is offered, where at the same time the specificities of the corpus of vakufnamas are indicated in the context of nonbibliographic data on endowment buildings. After that, the relationship between the IFLA LRM and the FRBRoo model is pointed out and an object-oriented version of the model from the FR-family is presented, which enables event-based data modeling and which is the result of a dialogue between the museum and library community, initiated by the interoperability of existing conceptual models. The sixth chapter is entitled Research on the Bibliographic Structure for Bosnian and Herzegovinian Vakufnamas and provides an overview of survey questionnaire techniques, conceptual mapping and card sorting, and complementary semi-structured interviews that were conducted for the purposes of data collection. The process of selecting participants and the way of conducting the research is presented in detail, along with a review of the literature related to the current research practices of the new conceptual framework. The question of organization of the phenomenon of vakufnamas as super-works is presented as a requirement for the organisation of vakufnamas written for endowment buildings. In the focus of the survey research and the card sorting task, the characteristics of user expectations regarding the bibliographic organization of these documents, and the specifics of the mental models, were considered for comparison with the entities and relationships declared in the IFLA LRM and FRBRoo models. The seventh chapter, entitled Structural Modeling of Bibliographic Data for Bosnian and Herzegovinian Vakufnamas, contains the results of the conducted research, the analysis of the data collected through the research, and a discussion of issues that have been identified as relevant in the context of the universe of interest, as a result of the literature review, preliminary discussions with the managers of the document collections and their users, and the conducted research. The question of the role of non-bibliographic data in the context of vakufnamas was primarily considered through survey research. Through conceptual mapping, it was established that the participants express a conceptualization of the bibliographic universe which, due to the certain level of abstraction it includes, corresponds to the multi-entity models. The research demonstrates how participants, for the purposes of expressing complex relations of derivation, within the multi-entity model they prefer, identify the characteristics of the relevant universe of discourse. Sorting the cards made it possible to compare the users' mental models with the conceptualization offered in the IFLA LRM. Furthermore, an account of how to model the historical context for the specific collection of sidjils of vakufnamas, that has been identified as significant for users, is presented, along with the issue of modeling manuscripts and works of art in the IFLA LRM model. In the part of the chapter related to the FRBRoo model, the modeling of vakufnamas as manuscripts is presented and the issue of modeling intellectual processes is discussed. In the context of endowments for building objects, the possibilities of the FRBRoo model for recording intellectual processes within the universe of endowments, in terms of performance and complex work, are pointed out. The final chapter, Concluding Considerations, summarizes the conclusions of each chapter with a discussion of key results. It is determined that the IFLA LRM and FRBRoo models represent a suitable framework for establishing the principles of structural modeling of bibliographic data for the selected corpus of vakufnamas.