Cataloguing for the open web with RDFa and schema.org

First principles: modern cataloguing is web-oriented

• Cataloguers provide access points to resources to enable discovery
• Books / library resources are for use
• Most discovery starts at a major search engine on the web
• Thus we must optimize discovery for the web

Foundations of the web

• HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
• Links
• Search
• Open standards and evolution

Foundations of open web discovery

• Persistent URIs - MUST
• robots.txt: restrict pages not of interest - SMART
• Sitemaps: list pages of interest + updates - ALMOST MUST
• RDFa, Microdata, JSON-LD - NICE TO HAVE

Evergreen and Google, ca. 2009

• Googlers wanted to help in their 20% time
• Evergreen's Ajax catalogue could not be crawled
• Opportunity lost, painful lesson learned
• Solid motivation

The Semantic Web

The Semantic Web is an extension of the current web in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation.

"an extension of the current web"

• Not something separate from the current web.

"in which information is given well-defined meaning"

• Like, adding RDFa or microdata to a web page?

"enabling computers and people to work in cooperation"

• "work" - oriented towards getting things done

Thus the uptake of schema.org

• Far from a perfect or complete vocabulary at launch in 2011, but:
• It was understandable to normals (examples!)
• Had practical uses
• Offered compelling results

schema.org seized the moment

• Libraries had a decade to do things "the right way"
• Opportunity lost, painful lesson learned (hopefully)
• Solid motivation!

Therefore, be it resolved that library systems

• Offer persistent URIs
• Publish sitemaps for the pages of interest
• Gracefully adopt schema.org as their first embedded vocabulary
• Use that vocabulary to build library-specific applications

schema.org myths

Myth: schema.org is a coarse vocabulary

• 595 classes
• 826 properties
• ... and growing

Myth: schema.org can't handle library complexity

• Classes: CreativeWork, Article, Book, Map, Movie, MusicRecording, Periodical, Photograph, PublicationIssue, PublicationVoume, ScholarlyArticle
• ... and Library!
• FRBR-ish properties: exampleOfWork, workExample
• Collection properties: hasPart, isPartOf

Myth: schema.org process is closed

• Entirely closed process opened up in late 2011:
  • W3C WebSchemas WG
  • W3C public-vocabs mailing list
• Code repository opened up for contributions in 2014:
  • git repository
  • 5 community contributors
• W3C schema.org Bibliographic Extension Community Group has used this openness effectively

Linked data, not just structured data!

Progressively enrich RDFa + schema.org to break out of silos

Use the @resource, Luke!

De-facto standards: GoodRelations

Best Buy

<http://www.bestbuy.com/site/a/7731019.p> md:item ( [ a schema:Product ;
schema:name "LG - G Watch for Select Android Devices - Titan Black" ;
schema:offers [ a schema:Offer ;
        schema:availability "OutOfStock" ;
        schema:itemCondition "NewCondition" ;
        schema:price "$79.99" ;
        schema:priceCurrency "USD" ;
        schema:seller [ a schema:Organization ;
                schema:name "BestBuy" ] ] ;

AbeBooks.com

<http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=11682446984> md:item ( [ a schema:Book ;
schema:name "The Semantic Web: A Guide to the Future of ..."@en ;
schema:offers [ a schema:Offer ;
        schema:availability "InStock"@en ;
        schema:itemCondition "UsedCondition"@en ;
        schema:price "1.00"@en ;
        schema:priceCurrency "USD"@en ] ;
schema:publisher "Wiley"@en ] ) ;

Evergreen library system

<http://acorn.biblio.org/eg/opac/record/1826746#schemarecord> a schema:Book,
        schema:Product ;
schema:name "Pull : the power of the Semantic Web to transform your business / David Siegel."@en-us ;
schema:offers [ a schema:Offer ;
        schema:availability schema:InStock ;
        schema:availableAtOrFrom "Adult Nonfiction"@en-us ;
        schema:businessFunction <http://purl.org/goodrelations/v1#LeaseOut> ;
        schema:gtin13 "9781591842774"@en-us ;
        schema:price "0.00"@en-us ;
        schema:seller <http://acorn.biblio.org/eg/opac/library/NMLFRD> ;
        schema:serialNumber "34021116328218"@en-us ;
        schema:sku "658.8072 SIE "@en-us ] .

Koha library system

<http://catalog.bywatersolutions.com/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=47958#record> a schema:Book,
        schema:Product ;
    schema:name "The cathedral and the bazaar : musings on Linux and Open Source by an accidental revolutionary / "@en .

[] a schema:Offer ;
    schema:availability schema:OutOfStock ;
    schema:businessFunction <http://purl.org/goodrelations/v1#LeaseOut> ;
    schema:itemOffered <http://catalog.bywatersolutions.com/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=47958#record> ;
    schema:seller "East Branch"@en ;
    schema:serialNumber "M12087334"@en ;
    schema:sku "005.4/32 (Browse shelf)"@en .

Vufind discovery system

<http://vufind.org/demo/Record/946330#record> a schema:Book,
        schema:Product ;
    schema:name "LinKnot : knot theory by computer / "@en .

[] a schema:Offer ;
    schema:availability schema:InStock ;
    schema:businessFunction <http://purl.org/goodrelations/v1#LeaseOut> ;
    schema:itemOffered <http://vufind.org/demo/Record/946330#record> ;
    schema:seller "Campus B"@en ;
    schema:serialNumber "00020739"@en ;
    schema:sku "S482.8110"@en .
                        

Library systems

Publishing structured data, out of the box, by default!

Evergreen

As of release 2.6.0 which came out this spring, Evergreen offers RDFa for:

• Bibliographic records
• Holdings
• Libraries (opening hours, contacts, locations, branch relationships)

Koha

As of release 3.14.0 which came out this spring, Koha offers RDFa for:

• Bibliographic records
• Holdings

Discovery layers / repositories

VuFind

As of release 2.2 which came out in January 2014, VuFind offers RDFa for:

• Bibliographic records
• Holdings

Blacklight

As of release 2.2 which came out in January, Blacklight offers microdata for:

• Bibliographic records

Islandora

As of release 7.x-1.3 which came out in March 2014, Islandora offers RDFa for:

• Bibliographic records

ScholarSphere

• Bibliographic records

Semantic web workflows for old tasks

Creating a union catalogue

• Old approach: branches periodically push records to a central repository
• Semantic web approach: central repository crawls branches intelligently using their sitemaps

Checking item availability

• Old approach: Z39.50 query with custom mappings for each source
• Old approach (?): Z39.83 (NCIP) query with custom mappings for each source
• Semantic web approach: request record URI, check availability of offerings